On Fairy's Wings
by GeneticallyElvenGryffindor
Summary: The difference between the Real World and the Matrix is thin. For those who dare to see across the small divide, the truth becomes glaringly clear. For young girl, the truth is more than just the difference between the Real World and The Matrix. It is the
1. Broken Wings

AN: Hi everyone! This is my first foray into the world of Matrix fanfiction. I have a funny little story attached to becoming a Matrix fan, anyway. I actually became a fan because of school. I was taking a class called "Storytelling: Then and Now" in college and the professor told us he was taking us to see _The Matrix Revolutions_. Now, I didn't see the other two movies and figured I had time to catch up before the last one came out. The week before _The Matrix Revolutions_ came out, though, the professor announced we had to see the movie on our own. That left me in a lurch and I did a two day intensive on everything Matrix. I saw the first two movies and started just trying to learn whatever I could about the series. The thing was, the more I watched, read, learned, and played the more interesting it became. Suddenly, I found myself a Matrix fan, much to the chagrin of my sister and mother who don't like sci-fi. Actually, it's come in handy as I've managed to squeeze The Matrix movies into a paper for my biochemistry class (The Science of the Matrix: Can Humans be Used as Batteries and Can We Jack In?) and in my Popular Cultural and Philosophy class (The Matrix as Both a Vehicle of Reference and Referral). Any who, without further ado, here's my little adventure in the Matrix. Please feel free to leave me a review- good, bad, or indifferent. I always appreciate hearing comments about my work. I only do this to pass the time at inhumanly early hours of the night (or is it morning?).

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Her eyes were closed. She was only dimly aware of time and place. Opening her eyes was not an option as her lids felt as heavy as weights. The nine year old child just lay there, listening to two faceless, nameless figures conversing over her head.

"What will become of her when she is released?" came an even sounding male voice.

His tone was that of a person who was very familiar with asking questions and having them answered. It did not betray any feelings that would show otherwise.

"She will become a ward of the state until such a time when a suitable guardian is found for her. Though that seems unlikely, given her situation," came a second voice, a female voice.

"Then the state will be paying for her treatment?" the male inquired.

"Of course," the other voice replied, sounding stunned that such a question should be asked, "we take care of own responsibilities."

The two grew quiet for a moment, the room filling with vaguely familiar sounds. Something squeaked as it moved past and, in the distance, something backfired. Closer, nearly on top of the speaking pair, was a steady hum, continuous beats adding to the general din.

"You are aware of her extensive medical history, then?" the male voice commented, quickly.

"Only that she has had extensive medical problems which I am sure you can repair," she cool female voice retorted.

There was the sound of something metal hitting against something else and papers being rustled.

"I'm afraid we've done all we can for this poor kid. According to her chart, she was born nearly three months premature, to a drug addicted mother. She, herself, had to go through detoxification. Her aunt claimed guardianship after her mother disappeared from a detoxification center. Around her first birthday, she was brought in to repair a hole in the septum of her heart. During one of the consultations, it was discovered that a mutation in the germ cell line resulted in a deficiency in the muscles of her body. Their strength is not what it should be and no amount of therapy has been able to rectify that fact. She has had more than her fair share of childhood illness, despite preventative care by her aunt and uncle. Dizzy spells over the past few months, forced them to bring her in again. It seems she suffers from mitral valve prolapse with a click. Her prognosis does not look good at any rate," the male explained in a matter of fact voice.

In his line of work, there was no way one could show emotion. To allow attachment to any case, no matter how emotion provoking, was not something recommended in his line of work. Already, it seemed that he had invested too much time and energy in this one case.

"So, I'm going to have to try and place her in a facility for children with 'special needs.' You lot just love to make my job harder, don't you?" quipped the female voice.

"As a matter of fact," the male voice countered, "a recent IQ test, administered by her school, has shown her to be of above average intelligence for her age."

"So a normal facility, then," the woman commented, "about how long before I can place her?"

The male figure grew quiet. The sound of rustling paper came from near his person. He made a few small sounds, as if he was thinking of or about something.

"She will not be released until I am completely satisfied with her condition," he stated, with finality in his voice.

"So about a week, then?" the woman pressed, sounding as if she worked on dead lines and time frames.

The lack of one was causing her much annoyance, or so it seemed.

"Until," bit the male voice, annoyance seeping into his own voice, "I am satisfied with her condition. That may be one week or more."

"Right, so a week it is," the woman stated.

There was the sound of something being flipped open and the peeping of buttons being depressed.

"You can't use that in here. It causes the machinery to malfunction," the male voice stated in a knowing voice.

There was the sound of an angry sigh, from the woman, as if she was not keen on taking orders from the male. Accompanied by the sound of heeled shoes clicking on the tiled floor, the woman walked away.

The conversation she was having, though, could still be heard by both the male and his patient.

"Nurse, can you please come here for a moment," the male said.

A strange padding sound announced the arrival of the nurse.

"What happened to this poor dear, doctor?" she questioned the male figure, her voice fraught with concern.

"House fire. She's lucky to be alive. She was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom while her aunt and uncle were on the first floor. They must have left candles lit as something on the first floor caught fire. A neighbor walking his dog saw the blaze and called the fire department. Her aunt and uncle died from their burns. She's lucky to have escaped with just smoke inhalation," the doctor-the owner of the male voice-explained.

"Poor baby. Where are her parents?" she asked, opening something and rustling its pages.

"Her aunt and uncle were her legal guardians. Mother vanished from a drug rehabilitation program. Last anyone saw of her was her heading into a long black car. Never made a positive ID on her father," the doctor informed the woman stated.

"What's to become of her after this?" she asked, clicking something closed.

"Why do you think Mrs. Estes is here? She'll become a ward of the state," the doctor answered, referring to the other woman he had been speaking with.

The doctor sounded as if he wanted to say something more, possibly about Mrs. Estes, but an electronic voice blurted out, "DR. LARNIKIN TO THE ER STAT! DR. LARNIKIN TO THE ER STAT!"

Heavy footfalls on the tiled flooring were all that was heard as the doctor jogged from the room and away from the figure on the bed.

"You need another bad of fluids, yes you do," the nurse spoke in a soft voice.

She hummed as she worked around the figure on the bed, changing the bag of IV fluids that was keeping the young girl hydrated.

"Don't worry, dearie, you just wait. One of these days you'll be right as rain. Yes you will. Everything for you will turn out just right," she spoke, just after the sound of metal clipping on metal.

A click, followed soon after by the padding of soft shoes, saw the nurse out of the room.

It was an atypical hospital room, from the white walls to the smell of antiseptic agents. Lying on a white sheeted bed with metal railings and with a gaggle of wires leading up to a complex set of machines was a wiry thin child. Her brown-black hair drew a sharp contrast to the white pillow and blanket. Her ears stuck out from the sides of her head and, when combined with her other features, gave her the look of a pixie or some other elven-type creature.

She winced ever so slightly as a healing burn made its presence known but soon found herself relaxing in the grips of the medication she had been given. This was not the first time she had been in the hospital and she was well aware of the fact it was not going to be her last.

For Diane Ford, hospitals were just a part of everyday life, as normal as the rising of the sun.


	2. Just a Little Ditty

AN: Hi all! I'm back with another update to my little story. I hope everyone's having fun on my little rid through the Matrix world. I only wrote this story, really, to pass time and to amuse myself late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. Actually, most of this story was written either really late at night or between early classes in school when I had long breaks between classes. Shorter breaks were for notebook writing and working on other stories. I hope all of you continue to stick around as the adventure unfolds. Please feel free to leave a review after you're read! I really do appreciate my reviewers. You guys rock like a box of socks!

LiMiYa: I'm glad you liked the details! I, actually, was told by Creative Writing professor to tone down on the details I used. I'm not quite sure why. Personally, I think he didn't want to read all that much of what any of us handed in. Anywho, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it.

pixie88: Thanks you! I'm happy you like my original characters and I guess they really do tend to be kids who wind up stuck in hard luck situations. Hospitals do get a bad rap since they're also the place to go to get better after being sick for so long. As for _The Matrix_ aspect to all of this, it'll get tied in eventually. I too am a big fan of the first movie and not so much of the second. The third was pretty good, though, even though it negated most of the second movie. That's cool that you studied the movies in school! It's probably one of the most fun things to discuss in class since it's usually something everyone knows. Anywho, here's my next update! I hope you like this one just as much!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Keys clicked merrily as a lanky eleven year old worked on her school project. A small radio was turned on in one of the corners, the song "Jack and Diane" filtering into the room.

"Diane, can you get down here? We're suppose to meet the new kid today," called a voice from the end of the hall way.

Long ago, the eleven year old learned to ignore the screeching that appeared to be a constant part of life in the home she lived in. For three years, three long torturous years, Diane had lived in this home for children with no families. No one wanted to foster her and she knew why. Her medical bills were far too high, the chances of her living to see her eighteenth birthday were far to slim.

She continued to work, her mind far too occupied with the project at hand. She was supposed to be writing and illustrating a science-fiction story for her English class. Diane was no great shakes at drawing-puzzles being more her area of expertise-but a nifty computer program was helping her to create images for her story.

"Diane, are you deaf or just dumb? I said, let's go," the voice called, as its owner stalked into Diane's room.

She turned in her swiveling chair to face the owner of the voice. Framed in the wooden doorway of her room was an older girl who lived three doors down from her own by the name of Allison. Diane regarded Allison with a tired expression on her pale face.

Lately, she'd been unable to sleep.

"But I'm doing homework," Diane protested.

Homework was not the only reason Diane did not want to go down to meet the newest member of their establishment. She knew that, going down, she would have to face the others who lived in the center...others who spent most of their free time and energy making her feel unwelcome and, generally, making her life a nightmare.

That wasn't high on the list of things she was interested in doing at the moment.

"Never mind the homework. We all know that assignment is due in like two weeks. Let's go," Allison said, starting to pull Diane off of her chair.

"Fine," she said with a resigned sigh, "just let me save my project. I'm not all together keen on losing my work,"

Pulling out a neon green disk from a black case and trying to ignore Allison's moans and groans about her being obsessive and making them look bad by being late, she saved her work and shut down her computer. Moments after, she was being dragged down the hall by an obviously eager Allison.

The home had talked about nothing other than the eminent arrival of the new boy for days on end. Most of the elder girls wanted it to be a boy about their age...someone knew to drool over for the three boys at the home were no longer interesting. They wanted something new to look at and ogle over.

Diane knew that, whatever the age of the new person was, as soon as he spoke to the others, she was going to be…discussed. For a while, though the councilor said she was just being paranoid about things, she had been convinced that there was some unwritten rule preventing the others from talking to her. The councilor got a good laugh out of that one...

They reached the rec room as Diane began to wheeze for breath. She found a chair far removed from the others as Allison wandered over to her tight knit group of friends. They began to talk animatedly, occasionally throwing glances over in Diane's direction. The young girl guessed her making them wait was not a popular decision.

Diane, however, tried her best to ignore them, focusing her dwindling energy on catching her breath. She knew she didn't look like them, which caused part of her problem. She was wiry thin with long black-brown hair and brandy brown eyes. Her eyes, though, were covered with a pair of coke bottle glasses, so thick one wondered how she could see through them. She tended to dress in comfortable clothing, jeans and t-shirt or coveralls, because she was sick all the time. She figured better to be sick and comfortable than not.

A tall man, with a shock of radioactive blond hair and violet eyes, entered the room, hiding a person behind his tall form.

'Attention everyone," he called, gesturing for the room to listen to him.

Atypical of the group of preteens and teens they were, not a single soul paid attention to the radioactively blond man.

"Yo, cats, Ran the man is trying to speak. We's got to give him his props," called one of the boys, after breaking the air with an ear drum splitting whistle.

"Thank you, William," Ran- short for Randall- said to the whistler.

"Yo, man, it's Waldo, not William," the whistler protested, running a hand through his ice blue hair.

"Whatever the case might be," Randall said, cutting Waldo off before he could continue his protests, "you know why we're all here. I'd like everyone to give a warm welcome to our newest family member...Jack White."

Randall stepped aside and the entire room audibly groaned. Jack was most certainly not what everyone was expecting.

He was a short boy, just slightly taller than Diane, with arms that seemed to extend past his knees. He looked to be about her age, maybe just a hair or two older. His hair was bristly, buzz cut and black as ink. Immaturity shone from his nearly black eyes.

With the announcement made and everyone unhappy with the newest member of the home, most went back to their small groups. Diane took the initiative and slipped out of the room, going back up to her own private little sanctuary where she could work.

"Yo, newbie, come here," whispered Waldo.

Jack pointed at himself, taken aback by someone speaking directly to him.

"Yes you, moron," spoke a boy with slurpee green hair.

Jack walked over, moving as if his body was held together by loose rubber bands. He appeared afraid of the three older boys standing in a tight knit group on the far side of the room.

"Ah...ignore Sam. He's just being stupid," commented Waldo, throwing a dirty look in the direction of the green haired boy, "Got a name, kid?"

Jack looked oddly at the older boy- Hadn't his name just been announced? - but replied with, "Jack Trevor White."

"Fancy name, kid. Are we suppose to call you that whole thing?" came the question from a boy with apple colored hair.

"Well, most people just call me JT," he commented.

"JT is it, then. Look, if you're going to get along here, JT. There are just a few rules you need to understand," Waldo said with the air of someone who was truly in control of his surroundings.

"Are you sure you want him to come into our little circle, Waldo?" whispered the apple haired boy.

"Shut it, Spaz, he has to know. Otherwise how's he going to live here," Waldo hissed to the apple haired boy.

"What rules?" JT asked, trying to sound tough.

"First things first, we do what we want when we want. Ran the man and the girlies don't stop us. Second, we're in control of both floors here and the rec room no matter what. Thirdly, we leave Diane Ford alone," Waldo recited, as if his words were the law of the land.

"Who's Diane Ford? Why do we leave her alone?" JT questioned, sounding confused.

"She's probably gone up now. She's not very social. She's a geeky looking kid- big glasses and the works. She's always sick, too," explained Sam.

"We leave her alone just because we do. I'm not really sure why. You know, Waldo?" added Spaz, who looked none too bright to begin with.

Waldo shrugged and threatened, "If you know what's good for you, you will too. Feelin' me?"

Wanting to be accepted more than anything, after untimely disappearance of both of his parents, JT, firmly, stated, "I gotcha."


	3. Big Wednesday

AN: Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends! Actually, there is an ending but it's a bit of a way off. Hopefully, you'll all stick around that long. Anyway, I hope you're having fun with my little adventure and are planning on hanging around for the ride. We'll come to the Matrix soon enough, I promise! Stuff just has to get set up first and that's very nearly done with. If anyone's curious, this story takes place before the first of _The Matrix_ movies. Not like just after "The Second Renaissance" from _The Animatrix_, though. Just before the first of the movies. Anywho, please continue to read and review my little adventure. You wonderful reviewers are the reason I keep posting these stories and it's always a shock and a half to get reviews! I never really expect anyone to be reading this stuff and I'm always surprised when people do!

pixie88: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Though Diane is often sick, she does have a life outside the hospital. Well, you could creatively call it a life anyway. Jack does have a larger role ahead, despite the fact he's under the influence of the boys. I'm happy you enjoyed all their rules, especially the one about leaving Diane alone. They really do have no reason- or no reason any of them can recall because the rule's been in place a good long while- to keep her outside the group other than that's what they've always done. I really do hope you like this chapter just as much!

LiMiYa: She's sort of stuck where she is because of what's wrong with her and Diane has no control over that. She's just sort of trying to keep going because that's what she has to do. Stopping, for her, means stopping for good. I'm glad you liked the fact all the other characters have little lives of their own. I took creative writing in school and got accused of using too much detail in my characters by the professor. Personally, I think he just didn't like reading long stories. They have that rule just because the rule's sort of always been there and has been handed down since she got there. No one really knows why….it just sort of happened.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Throwing his black backpack on his bed and unzipping one of its pockets, Jack padded over to his computer. He'd just come back from his first, and none to memorable, day of the public school the children living in the home attended. He wasn't the happiest camper to begin with for he had months of notes to catch up on but that feeling was compounded by the fact he had been assigned a massive project to work on.

He guessed it was their evil way of welcoming him into the school. Yet another reason for him not to like any institute of learning. He figured they were all working against him and his vow to have as much fun as possible as often as possible.

To make matters worse, he had yet to meet his partner face to face. As a way to go across the learning guidelines, the teacher had only given them on-line names. They were to find their partners on the internet before meeting them face to face. He really didn't understand or appreciate that little twist on the assignment. It was enough he was stuck working in a group with someone he didn't even know…someone who was probably going to stick him with a lot of work that he didn't want to do.

Jack flipped his computer on, tossing his sneakers at his bed before signing on to the internet. The blue and white shoes landed just near his bed instead of under it as he had initially intended. The boy shrugged figuring he would just fix them later. There were more important things to do first.

He made his way on-line, checking his mail and making sure everything was in good, working order. Well, good working order for him, at least. He was about to start chatting with some of his friends from his old neighborhood when Jack recalled what he had initially gone on-line to do.

A few clicks later and a message box came up on his screen. Typing rather deliberately, he sent a message to his partner- a person known only as "WhtRbitD."

**_JTFAN:_** Hi there!

Diane was sitting at her computer, playing a game that seemed to involve turning pipes around to feed juice to rodent like creatures. Randall had taken her to the cardiologist in order to investigate strange dizzy spells she'd been having whenever she was in a large crowd. As they waited, it became apparent to Diane that she was going to miss, yet another, day of school.

She came home to find her homework in a neat pile on her bed. Someone had been good enough to get her books and her work for her. Diane figured it had to be one of the people in charge of the building because none of the people she lived with would dare do something like that. It would mean they would have to acknowledge that they knew her first off. Something they weren't fond of doing.

Homework done- she'd never minded homework and liked to get it done before she felt too tired or sick to complete the tasks at hand- Diane settled in for a night of aimless on-line gaming. She had always like games, especially those that dealt with puzzles. It was one of those strange skills people had, she figured. Some people were good with numbers- she certainly wasn't one of those people. Others were creative enough to write the great American novel.

She just happened to have some strange, quirky skill that made solving puzzles a whole lot easier thus making it a whole lot of fun. It wasn't exactly a skill that she could use anywhere in the world but it was one she got some enjoyment in having. Something the home's counselor encouraged because she wasn't exactly the most confident of people.

That is, until the instant message box interrupted her game.

**_WhtRbitD:_** Do I know you?

**_JTFAN:_** I'm in your social studies class. You must have seen me today. I was the new kid who got embarrassed in front of the room.

**_WhtRbitD:_** I wasn't in school today. I had to go to the doctor's office.

**_JTFAN:_** Sucky deal. You ok?

**_WhtRbitD:_** I'll be alright. How'd you get my name?

**_JTFAN:_** We're suppose to be working on a project together for social studies. The teacher gave me your name. You must have gotten mine.

**_WhtRbitD:_** Maybe it fell out when I got my homework because I didn't get your name. I'm taking you at your word that we have to work together. What do we have to do?

**_JTFAN:_** Something about the thirteen colonies. You and I have to do New York.

**_WhtRbitD:_** Sounds easy. Can we work on it on-line?

**_JTFAN:_** I don't see why not. How come?

_**WhitRbitD:**_ I don't think I'll be coming into school the rest of this week. The people who are in charge of me will probably wait until the doctor gives me the "all clear" to go back.

**_JTFAN:_** I guess we can. I'll e-mail you the assignment and stuff so we can get started. You're not going to leave me high and dry and make me do all the work and garbage because you're sick, are you?

**_WhtRbitD_:** Thanks! I really appreciate that and no, I'm not going to stick you with all the work. I maybe stuck home and I may be sick but I'm going to pull my own weight. Just tell me what has to get done and I'll do it.

**_JTFAN:_** Well, I guess this is good bye for now. I have other homework to do.

**_WhtRbitD:_** I guess so. Good-bye! Nice talking to you!

**_JTFAN HAS SIGNED OFF_**

JT turned off his computer with an annoyed sigh. Not that he was annoyed at his partner. He or she seemed easy to work with despite the fact he or she was sick. He was more annoyed at the pile of math problems staring him in the face. His math grades- like his grades in English and science- were dismal and there was already talk of him being supplied with tutors in order to get him though his weakest subjects. It wasn't a good thing that he was behind to begin with. He'd have to be caught up and caught up soon in order to make the grade.

Diane, in her own room, in front of her own computer, groaned at the idea of doing group work. When it came to group work, the same thing always happened. One person did all the work. The other sat back and got a good grade. She shook off the feeling and returned to her game. Her counselor had told her time and time again to stop thinking that the entire world was out to get her and that she was the only one working hard at things. There were people out there who were willing to pull their weight in the universe if she'd just bother to open her eyes and see them.

With a resigned sigh, Diane decided to test out that advice. She'd give this mystery partner of hers a chance before she wrote him- or her since the name didn't really say anything- off as yet another person in a long line of school partners who didn't do anything and got the same good grade she did.

Maybe...just maybe, this time would be different.

(AN: I do hope that wasn't so confusing! Please, feel free to tell me if my formatting the on-line conversation wasn't clear.)


	4. Blind Tiger

AN: Hiya all! I started school on Monday but, have no fear, I'm going to keep updating this and all my little stories. This time I mean it because I have Friday's off so I can use the weekend to update. That's what I hope will happen, anyway. One never knows the adventures school will throw at them, especially since I started a new program in a new school. I'm going to really try though! Anywho, just a great big "thank you!" to all my wicked cool reviewers. You all rock like a box of socks and make posting this story worth it. It comes as a great surprise to me whenever I get reviews for my little adventure. Again, you rock like a box of socks!

LiMiYa: The odds are nearly impossible, I would imagine, of something like that happening. There's always the likelihood of there being outside forces at work. Someone or something wanting the two kids to be partners. The disappearance of Jack's parents, along with the disappearance of Diane's mother, may have its roots in the Matrix. Don't worry! You'll find out eventually! I'm glad the conversation was clear and I'm glad you like the story. Here's hoping you like this part just as much.

pixie88: It's certainly a way to avoid all sorts of embarrassing situations to say the least! Middle school- and high school really- rank among some of the toughest situations, people wise. The girls are ever so catty with each other. The fact that their project will get done, mostly, on-line does save Jack from breaking one of the rules he was told. Sort of a loop hole, despite the fact no one bothers to explain anyway. Ah yes….the fun of doing group work! Someone always get stuck doing the lion's share of the work. I can't say that person who has wound up with all the work was me every so often. Anywho, I'm glad you liked Diane's screen name and part of its roots do come from the "Alice in Wonderland" white rabbit. I figured I'd just toss that in there since it's such a reoccurring theme in the movies. Ramble all you want!

Lindiel Eryn: I'm happy you liked Diane's strangely skewed screen name. Who she becomes later on will be seen later, of course! Wait no more for the next part! Here it is fresh from the guts of my computer!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

As much as she really was scared to say it, Diane had to admit that working with whomever this mysterious "JTFAN" was actually turning out to be very easy. He understood that she was sick and could not come to school so they worked together on-line. He was being helpful, doing his part and working as she was. There were only a few questions about who she was but those were few and far between.

A fact that amused the young girl to no bitter end.

Diane was starting to wonder if he had put two and two together yet and puzzled out just who she was in their class. She sincerely hoped not since she figured his helpfulness would end with her identity. After all, she wasn't exactly "Miss Popular" in school either.

She figured it had everything to do with the fact the people she lived with talked badly about her. Her counselor had told her otherwise, of course, claiming that she was slightly paranoid about things like that. That and the fact she let her paranoia get the best of her.

How was one supposed to make friends, the older woman whom Diane spoke to on a weekly basis was fond of telling her, if one was inherently suspicious of everyone and paranoid that they were talking badly about them?

Diane never had a good answer for her because she knew she was telling the truth. Still, the woman never tried to see things from Diane's small point of view. It was hard to break through the prejudices people had about her.

**_JTFAN:_** So, what is your name, anyway?

Diane groaned, pushing away from the computer and rubbing at her eyes with the back of her right hand. The question had come up in their conversation today, much to her annoyance. She wasn't feeling well to begin with; a massive gastrointestinal infection had the ability to do that to a person along with antibiotics that just made her feel ever so slightly worse, and his question wasn't helping any. She really didn't want to own up to her real identity for fear he's stop talking to her.

It had been a long time since Diane had anyone to talk to in a friendly sort of way. She pulled her chair in again and placed her hands on the keyboard in front of her. A moment's though passed as she started typing again.

**_WhtRbitD: _**What's in a name? A rose by another name would smell as sweet.

Diane knew the reply would bother him. It had been carefully chosen, hopefully to throw the other person off track. A quote she remembered seeing someplace on-line and had committed to memory because she liked the way it sounded in her head.

She wasn't really keen on having this other person, whom she had started to consider as a friend, discovering her true identity.

**_JTFAN:_** Come on, Rabbit. What's your real name?

**_WhtRbitD:_** I am the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

Diane just shook her head, shaking with silent laughter at her own little joke. Her name had its roots in two separate places. Of course, it had come from Alice in Wonderland. There was the infamous White Rabbit who had brought Alice into the fantasy world known as Wonderland. For someone whose reality wasn't exactly the nicest of places, to think there was a topsy-turvey other world made her feel better. If only she knew where to find her guide, of course.

The name also had roots in the command corrupt hacker Denis Nedry had used to turn of the fences in the movie "Jurassic Park." His command – "WhiteRabbitObject-" though, had taken something fun and changed it into something rather dangerous. To remedy that, Diane just changed the letters around a bit to fit in her own personal touch. Hence the "D"- After her own name- in her on-line name.

**_JTFAN:_** Not funny Rabbit! What's your name?

**_JTFAN:_** Rabbit, where'd you go?

**_JTFAN:_** RABBIT? Are you alright?

Aside from her comment about being the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, Diane had seen none of Jack's subsequent responses. All of a sudden her screen had gone black and strange green symbols began to cascade down like rain. They moved and flickered in regular columns like some sort of strange code that the young girl didn't even try to understand. They were moving to fast for her to comprehend anyway.

She tried to call up her task manager to shut down her internet explorer but it was to no avail. Her computer wasn't responding to her and the symbols still fell like some kind of insistent rain. A strange downpour that Diane really wanted to stop.

Annoyed and desperate, she reached over to pull the plug out of the wall but her elbow slipped, hitting the print button on her printer. Ream after ream of the strange symbol began to issue from the machine. It, too, didn't want to listen to the young girl.

Just as quickly as the symbols had appeared, they disappeared. Diane peered at her screen, exceedingly baffled, with its normal background, message box in one corner and task manager in its center. Not a single thing was amiss; everything was as it was supposed to be.

She clicked off the task manager and ran an eye over her messages. There were a few messages from the boy from school.

**_WhtRbitD:_** Sorry about that my computer just flashed me with something. I think it was like a pop-up or something.

**_JTFAN:_** I got worried about you Rabbit. Because you made me worry, you have to tell me your name.

**_WhtRbitD: _**You're not going to give up on this are you.

**_JTFAN:_** Nope so you better give in.

Diane sighed, hoping beyond hope that she was doing the smart thing and that the mere mention of her name wasn't going to scare this person away. Maybe it was about time she tried her counselor's advice and stopped being so paranoid about things.

**_WhtRbitD:_** My name is Diane Ford. Yours?

JT nearly feel out of his chair. The person he had been talking to and working with was the strange girl one floor below his own. The girl no one talked to because she was odd and always sick. The one wearing the coke bottle glasses.

This was bad….worse than bad, actually. He was breaking so many rules by even talking to this girl. JT knew he was in so much trouble on so many levels of anyone found out about his conversations. With Diane.

**_JTFAN:_** Jack...Jack White.

Diane just, simply, stared at her screen. The person who has been acting as if he was her friend was the person who, in the real world, would not give her the time of day. He was one of those people who avoided her like the plague. One of the ones who avoided her because of the unspoken rule she knew existed, though she had no proof of that fact.

The young girl had no idea what to do, was really unable to do anything but gawk at the words on the screen before her. Knowing she had to type something, her hands moved slowly over the keys and the words took shape on the screen before her.

**_WhtRbitD:_** Where do we go from here, Jack?


	5. The River of Dreams

AN: Sorry for the delay but I was having computer issues….again. My dad had to take the tower into the shop for a bit because we were having problems with the machine freezing up on us and getting all sorts of nasty pop up ads and things like that. Strange thing is that this is like the second or third time this has happened to the computer. Maybe we need to get someone else in to fix the computer! Anywho, I'm going to try to get myself back on track here and update all of my on going misadventures. I hope you're all enjoying the little misadventure that we're all on at the moment. Please, keep reading and reviewing! A review or two always surprises me and makes me feel better! All of you reviewers rock like a giant box of shiny socks!

LiMiYa: I'm glad you liked the little conversation between Jack and Diane, especially the last line since both of them were very, very confused. As for Diane's computer, well, let's just say that the matrix is out there and sometimes it pops up in unexpected places.

pixie88: Jurassic Park only came up because it's the movie that sort of inspired me towards genetics. Something about cloning dinosaurs sort of clicked in my head and made me want to work in science. Anywho, I'm glad you liked the fact Diane and Jack have created this strange friendship and that his worry only translated into a way to get to know her name. Of course, that left him with more to think about than he figured it should. As for the strange screen, it's sort of like Diane's white rabbit. Except, unlike Neo, she doesn't know where it's going. Actually, she may not know to even follow it. For her, for now, it's just a strange little occurrence. Please continue to ramble on! It's much appreciated.

(AN: Please don't hurt me for the characters in this chapter. I didn't want to use an already established crew from the movies or anything. Think of it as a smaller patrol ship or something. Let me know if you don't like my invention, please.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

_**Someplace Far Beyond the Thoughts of Two Confused Twelve Year Olds...**_

A stream of curses, enough to make a sailor blush, issued through the chilly air. A figure wearing heavy black boots and slightly rumpled clothing followed the stream of curses to its source.

Not that the figure was happy to be doing so. It was late and she was rather exhausted. A day's work- Well, the type of work she did anyway. - was enough to make any normal person tired.

"What happened Torrent?" sleepily questioned a tall red-headed female, the figure that had come up to see who was making such a ruckus as suck a late hour.

Torrent swiveled in his chair and ran a hand through his shoulder length auburn colored hair. He was quiet for a moment as it caught on a knot near his left ear. Gray eyes regarded the bank of monitors that encircled his back at the moment.

"The code just did something weird Agon," Torrent answered, an odd inflection to his voice, part from his false background from the Matrix and part because he was panicking.

Both he and Agon were new to their posts and, as such, had wound up with the worst of everything and that included watch shifts. They were also under orders from the captain, a grizzled older man named Cryo, to either toe his line or find themselves a new job. Of course, he hadn't said what line they were toeing but Torrent figured he was doing a pretty good job of keeping out of trouble and that was something special for him because he seemed to be prone to trouble. At least that was what his friend- Well, more than a friend really in his mind anyway- Rain had told him.

That is, until about five minutes ago.

"Define weird, Tor," Agon prompted sounding worried, "There are lots of things here that can be classified as weird. Come to think of think of it, this may rank right up there."

She yawned again, covering her mouth with a tatty gray sleeve. Both male and female were dressed alike, in clothing that could best be described as ratty. Rough, industrial sweaters with runs and frayed cuffs and black pants that, on occasion, itched were the order of the day...week...month...lifetime.

Torrent shifted around in his seat, wishing he was home with his sometimes female friend Rain. Suddenly the world around him seemed to shrink to just the chair in which he sat the monitors- all flashing the same image- about his shoulders and above his head and the female he was speaking with.

"Well, it's like this. I was sitting here doing the guard thing just like Cryo told me to. I wasn't touching anything, anything at all. I was sitting here, honest," Torrent started until he was cut off.

"Tor, please calm down. I never said you did anything," Agon commented.

"Sorry, Aggie. It's just that I don't want Cryo or worse, Deadbolt to take my head off. Anyway, I'm sitting here and all of a sudden all the monitors go black. I mean, pitch black. I tried to get them to come back on line but nothing worked. I was about to call someone when they just popped back on," Torrent finished up.

Agon threw a puzzled glance at the monitors and then at Torrent. She trusted his words and knew that, though he commonly too very few things seriously, he took his job very seriously. Maybe because he was genuinely afraid of Cryo and even more afraid of "Deadbolt," the man in charge of Zion's fleet.

"Maybe we should call Mika down and have her look at the system or something," suggested Agon with a shrug.

"Who's Mika?" Torrent questioned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand and making a face when he realized how filthy his hands were.

His nerves combined with the late hour had left the young man rather confused. What he really wanted to do was put this whole mess out of his head and get some well deserved sleep. Well, he thought the sleep was well deserved. Torrent wasn't sure about anyone else thinking the same thing, though. Not after what just happened to him….even if it really wasn't his fault. Well, he thought it wasn't his fault.

All the thinking was making Torrent's head throb horribly. He really didn't want to have to think all that much at this time of night.

"Mike, Torrent, operator Mika," Agon reminded her friend, with a laugh.

"What about me?" came a sarcastic sounding voice from the entrance of the room.

Apparently, it wasn't just Agon who was up at the current inhuman hour, much to the chagrin of the Torrent.

Torrent and Agon exchanged worried glances as Mika, a shortish female with a mess of curly black hair, strode into the room. She shooed Torrent out of his seat forcing him to squat down next to Agon. His balance was not as good as hers and he slipped, nearly taking Agon down to the cold floor with him.

"Um...nothing," he tried, as he righted himself on the ground, "we were just talking about how nice it is to work with such a skilled operator as yourself."

"Don't you dare lie to me, newbie. I'll get Cryo down here and you can stay with me while the others jack in. I'm sure I can find lots of uses for you," Mika threatened, her voice a menacing growl.

"You better tell her the truth, Tor," Agon whispered to the male next to her.

For the second time during their false night, Torrent relayed the story of what happened to him during his turn on watch. This time, though, he stomach twisted itself into a bunch of tight knots as he spoke to someone with far more experience than Agon. Mika was above him in the small chain of command that had been established.

Mika swore just as loudly and severely at Torrent before turning to her keyboards. For quite sometime, all that could be heard in the room was the banging of keys and the mumbling of a person trying to figure out just what went wrong with her machinery.

Above all things, Mika took her job very seriously. Woe be it to anyone who even attempted to make improvements on her machines. She was the only one allowed to touch them to make such repairs.

"Torrent, go get the rest of the crew. Agon, wake Cryo up. We've got a serious problem here," Mika ordered, making the two young people jump to complete their given assignments.

Moments later, a small crowed was convened around Mika's station. All wore the same tired expression and the same tatty clothing. There were a few bewildered expressions in the gathered crowd since no one was sure why they had been woken up in the middle of what passed for night.

"What did the newbie do know?" questioned Cryo, the grizzled older man who was the captain of the ship known as the _Rebel Dream_.

"Actually, sir. Torrent didn't do a thing. This time it wasn't his fault. Much to my surprise," Mika replied, not bothering to look up from her typing.

"Then why did you bother to wake all of us up?" questioned a Hispanic looked male who called himself Izzy, "I'm beat and I was in the middle of a very nice dream. One about warm things since it's so cold on this blasted bucket of bolts."

"Because," Mika answered, turning from her station to address the crew of the _Rebel Dream_, "some poor kid still in there got flashed."

"Flashed?" questioned an Italian looking female with her hair in a long braid and using the name Fiori, "I'm not sure I understand what that means. What flashed this kid?"

"Some kid who's still asleep in their pod got to look at the code for some unknown period of time," Mika explained, "It seems to be some sort of glitch but who knows why this kid saw it."

"Is he or she the only one? If he or she is, let's just take him or her out and be done with it," Fiori wanted to know.

"As far as I can tell- Mind you I'm only one operator and there's no one else around for me to contact at the moment- she may be the only one. If there were any others, the cases will come pouring in once it gets a little earlier. To tell you the truth, I can't even put a name or a place to this kid," Mika explained.

Cryo vehemently swore, looking as if he wanted to hit something. Torrent shrunk back, going to stand behind Izzy, which earned him a few dirty looks.

"What are we going to do, sir? I mean, Mika said before she wasn't going to be able to get a positive ID on the kid who got flashed anyway," Agon, tentatively asked.

Cryo stroked his short goatee and grew quiet for a moment. There didn't seem to be much else to do, given the situation.

"We drop down to Zion broadcast level and tell them what happened. Let it fall into their hands and they can try to find this kid. Then we keep a better eye on the code in the coming days," Cryo stated, his voice definite, "I don't want a repeat of this happening."

That said, everyone dispersed, going back to their stations and to bed, for the most part.

On the other side of their screens, sitting on the floor of her room, young Diane Ford puzzled over the strange sheets her printer had just spewed out at her. She was shaken to find out about her on-line friend being Jack and figured trying to puzzle out what the strange green on black…whatever they were…were.

"It's got to be a puzzle," she mumbled, "a code of some kind."

With a grin that made her look like some kind of pixie up to mischief, she retrieved a roll of clear tape. If it was a puzzle, it could be solved. If it was code, it could be cracked.

Either way, Diane decided to try and see the meaning behind what her computer had shown her. Break the code, as it were, and find out the meaning.


	6. See Clearly Now

AN: SORRY! I didn't mean to get behind again! I've been trying to update but the site was acting strange for me (probably my computer again) but now everything seems to be working fine for me. It's either that or I need to start picking a better day to update because, between school, dance classes, and a bunch lf lazy fellow Girl Scout leaders who like to lump their work on me, I'm running on very little free time. Anywho, thanks for not hurting me for my little made up crew. I do promise that more main characters, along with some more made up ones because I have a strange tendency to make up characters as I walk to and from school, will show up fairly soon. Don't worry; everyone's favorite characters will get involved somehow and to some degree. As always, thanks for the reviews! They rock like a box of socks and keep them coming. I don't care if they're good, bad, or indifferent. I'm always open to everyone's opinions- especially for this story- and I like to hear what people are thinking!

LiMiYa: Err….when this story happened. That's a tough one. Well, I can most definitely say it happens after the events that take place in _The Animatrix_ episodes "The Second Renaissance I" and "The Second Renaissance II" and before the first Matrix movie. Maybe a handful of years or more before the first Matrix movie if I ventured a guess. Anywho, I'm glad you liked my little makeshift crew and appreciated the mention of Deadbolt. Yes, Torrent is terrified of him and of his captain, too. Actually, Torrent's afraid of anyone with a higher rank than the one he holds. Don't worry, though, everyone from the Matrix movies- and Enter the Matrix since I quite enjoyed that game- will put in an appearance or two or ten.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Diane walked through the halls of the massive public school for the first time in who knew how many weeks. She was nearly bent clear in half from the amount of books she carried on her back. It really wasn't her fault she couldn't make it to school on a regular basis. She got sick…a lot and wound up having to stay home because of it.

Well not always home. There were the few times she'd wound up in the hospital because of heart related issues but that couldn't be helped because of whatever was wrong with her. That mystery thing no doctor could seem to identity and fewer could treat.

There was no way to treat her mysterious disease on a whole. Nope, just going to a bunch of specialists to treat the symptoms. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't. It all depended on what was wrong at the moment.

The crowd pushed her along like a small boat in the sea, like blood cells trying to get through the tight space of a capillary, and closed in around her like a dense fog. Closed in on her so tightly that Diane could no longer see anything but the blurred shapes of people around her. It was getting tighter and tighter as the space in the center of the hallway grew smaller and smaller as people gathered outside classrooms.

Too tight for Diane's liking, really, as she felt her breath shorten and her chest tighten as if in a vise. Her vision began to swim, eyes squinting to make sense of it all from behind her glasses. She was well aware of what was happening to her and Diane really didn't like it.

Having panic attacks was never something Diane liked and the panic attack was made all the worse by the fact she had problems with one of the valves in her heart. It was sort of….well….floppy and created a backwash of blood. Never a good thing and even worse now because she had started to panic.

Still Diane was an old pro at these sorts of things and she knew a thing or two about handling panic attacks. She tried to get to a wall, where she could support herself and keep herself standing as she made her way to her homeroom, but the crowd around her would not cooperate. They weren't allowing her to get to a place to catch her balance and keep herself upwards as she walked to her class.

Once in class, she could sit and get herself to relax. She knew that once she was away from the crowd she could breathe the free air again. It would be possible for her to actually attend school today.

Like all crowds, though, this one didn't want to really cooperate with one small member of its numbers.

"Get moving, dorkwad," called a person, shoving her from behind.

"Please, just go around me," she breathed, trying to keep going but finding her legs had turned to lead.

Another shove from behind caught her by surprise and upset her balance, nearly sending her to the floor. Really it was the combination of the strong shove and the fact she was already unbalanced because of the number of books she carried on her back. Her balance had been tenuous at best and nonexistent at the worst.

"I said move," bellowed the person standing behind her, obviously one of the older students who was use to getting what they wanted from the younger in the school.

Diane opened her mouth, trying to tell the person to just go around her, but found herself getting shoved again. This time, though, she hit the marble floor, hard, glasses skittering away from her. They came to rest on an alcove near a classroom.

As she groped blindly for her glasses, a ring began to form around her. All she could hear was the jeering of the other students as they watched her struggle.

"Why in the world does this always happen? This has to rank up there with some of my most embarrassing stunts. All I want are a string of good days….that's it! Is that so much to ask for anymore?" ran through her head as her hands moved around the ground.

"What happened?" jeered someone in the crowd, "Poor blind bat can't find her glasses?"

"There over here, I can see them!" called someone else.

"But she can't," added another, "Too bad."

"Anyone want to see how hard it is to step on these things and get them to break? I think I've see windows that are thinner than these suckers," someone else commented.

On the verge of tears, Diane spied a hand within her limited field of vision. In the person's hand was the vague outline of her glasses. At least she thought it was a hand and she thought it was holding her glasses. The young girl wasn't really sure.

Actually, it struck her as strange that someone would be brining her glasses. This was probably another joke. Someone bringing her the glasses she needed and then taking them away, probably breaking them. That would mean, she'd have to go home because it was really pointless to be in school and not be able to see a blessed thing.

"You don't want to be doing that, JT. This is very bad for you," warned someone in the crowd.

The nickname JT was very familiar to Diane. JT was the boy who lived upstairs from her. The one who, upon finding out her real name, had not said a single word to her. One of the many people who ignored her in the home she lived in. Treated her as if she was some kind of pariah with the plague.

Why he was helping her at the moment seemed a bit strange, a bit puzzling to her. It just didn't make any good sense. By helping her, JT would be working against everything everyone in the house stood for. He'd wind up an outcast just like her.

JT, heart pounding in his chest because he understood the consequences of his actions, didn't say a word. He just stayed at Diane's level and waited. Waited for the young girl to take her glasses from him and for the crowd to leave her alone.

The latter happened before the former, though, as the crowd dissipated before Diane even made a motion for her glasses.

"It's alright. They're all gone," JT said, pulling Diane to her feet- even though she really didn't seem like she wanted the help- and putting her glasses in her hands.

She cleaned them on the hem of her shirt and put them on her face. The world snapped back into clear focus once again.

Diane looked over at JT, confusion etched on her face. When at home he would not give her the time of day but, here he was, helping her out of a tight situation. That just didn't make any sense to her. None at all. School and the place she called home were tightly linked. What was rule there was rule here as well and that included the mandate about leaving her alone.

"You didn't have to help me," she commented, "It won't help your standing here and at home. Really, I'm serious about that."

JT looked at Diane, curiously and asked, "Are you alright?"

She was still quite pale and her breathing had yet to even out. Still, the tightness in her chest had gone and she wasn't feeling as panicky. At least the panic attack had passed.

"I'll be fine. This happens sometimes," Diane replied with a shrug.

"You're like always sick. How come?" JT replied, walking with Diane down to their shared homeroom.

Diane gave a noncommittal shrug, not wanting to tell JT what was really wrong with her. She wanted to be treated normally, not like she was a breakable object. It was one of those rules Diane had. She wanted to be treated just like everyone else. To have what amounted to a normal life. Well, as normal as some like her could be treated...

"So," she prompted, trying to change the subject, "I'm sure you're going to want to sit with your friends and stuff now. It was nice of you to help me and all but you don't have to pretend any more that we're friends. I know the rules and I know you're breaking one of them."

"I thought you and I were friends, after all those conversations we had on the internet together," JT commented with a slight smile, "Come on Rabbit, let me walk you to our homeroom."

"You sure you want to be doing this, JT? I mean no one is going to talk to you because you're talking to me. You're going to give up any social standing just to hang around with little sick me," Diane pointed out.

"I'd rather have one good conversation with you, Rabbit, then a million with them," JT commented though his voice was not exactly honest.

Alright, he had his ulterior motives but who didn't? It was normal in the world for people to want to make friends with people they thought could help them.

"We'll see, JT. We'll see," Diane said, knowingly.


	7. The Stranger

AN: Hi again! Welcome back to my little adventure! I hope everyone's having fun with my little tale of Matrix and mayhem and someone with really thick glasses. I also hope everyone's prepared for the stranger part of the ride ahead. We're getting ready to leave the Matrix behind and head into the Real World. Soon, anyway, but not too soon. Don't worry, though, we're getting there. By the by, just in case anyone's curious, the title of the chapters- except for chapter two for a good reason- are all song titles. The title of chapter two is the first line of the John Cougar Mellencamp song "Jack & Diane" which is where the names of the two characters came from. Anywho, I figured I'd just throw that out there for all of you to ponder. Thanks for the reviews as always, I greatly appreciate them and you reviewers rock big time!

LiMiYa: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much and I happy you liked the vividness of the situations. My creative writing teacher told me I was the only person ever in his class to get told to cut back on the details in stuff I wrote. Anyway, I really tried hard with the end part about Jack and Diane the understanding each one of them has for the other. I'd keep an eye on the team those two make for later…

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Time….one of those strange things in the universe. It passed daily without anyone paying it any mind really. It was just something that was there and that moved in a continuous stream. Only those with a limited amount of time noticed its movements, heeded its ebbs and flows throughout the day.

Still, no matter how much one wanted it to stand still, time slipped past. Moving in its never ending stream as it had for time immemorial. It passed and with it people aged and thing changed. People grew and changed. People passed from the world and new individuals were brought into it.

Things changed…people changed.

Two teenaged figures sat in a darkened room on the boy's floor. One sat on the bed, alternately staring at the ceiling and coughing into her t-shirt. She'd stopped coughing into her hands when she realized that she could get others sick that way. At the resting figure's elbow was a thin book with the word "Philosophy" on the cover. It was for a class at school she was taking….an English class where they were supposed to be studying the early classics of literature.

The other sat at his computer, working furiously at something the figure on the bed couldn't see. The figure was hunched over, light from the screen bathing features in its sickly glow. Making the figure look almost as ill as the one lying on the bed. The light above the screen cast only a pale glimmer as if it could not compete with the glow from the screen. The sickly, wan brightness was enough to scare the powerful halogen bulb in its gunmetal gray lamp.

"What are you doing?" Diane, the figure on the bed, asked coming over with book in hand to sit next to JT.

Diane had been reading through the slim tome before she was overtaken by a fit of coughing and forced into taking some foul tasting medication for her latest adventures in illness. That sorely disappointed the girl because she had just been getting into the reading for her English class.

She lowered herself into a chair, sighing as fever sore muscles relaxed in the chair. She had the flu, again, and a slight case of pericarditis. How she had wound up with a mild infection of the sac containing her heart was beyond her and beyond her pediatrician. An appointment to see her usual cardiologist had already been scheduled for three day hence. Diane rubbed the center of her chest, as if she was trying to relieve a cramp in her said part of her body.

"You ok over there?" JT asked some concern in his voice.

He'd gotten use to Diane being sick but it still made him nervous sometimes. He wasn't quite sure what he would do if she keeled over and passed out on him. Probably panic and start to yell since that seemed like a good response, even if it would get him mocked.

Not that him being friends with Diane had made him less of a target. Just because he decided to talk a bit- and get as much homework help as humanly possible since Diane, for all her illnesses, was pretty darn good at school related stuff. - with the least popular girl in the home, everyone seemed to take offense to it.

"Just my meds kicking in," she said with a sigh as the almost cramp broke up and relief flooded through her.

JT spared a glance over at his still fourteen year old friend. He was, exactly, four months four days older than Diane, making him older and, of course, wiser than she. He obviously knew better because of his advanced age.

He had turned fifteen two days previous.

Since "the incident in the hall," as they called it, the pair had become somewhat close friends. It was rare to see one without the other. One might have called them friends if they really wanted to but, given where they lived, allies would have been a better word.

Diane helped JT with his homework, while he kept her company. The young girl had a sneaking suspicion that JT was using her in order to get better grades in school but she wasn't really sure. To have someone to talk to outweighed whatever he was trying to use her for. It wasn't like she was doing his homework, anyway. More like she was helping him to a greater degree than he was helping her with anything.

"What are you doing?" she questioned, staring at the flashing images on the computer screen and pushing her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Hacking," came JT's simple reply, answering Diane in a tone that was very matter of fact.

Diane's brandy-brown eyes went wide with shock. She knew JT was always on his computer- That was one of the few things he was better at than she was. His mind seemed to be sharpest when he was in front of his computer instead of a textbook- but she had never imagined him working on something illegal. Then again, JT had a tendency to get into trouble. He was always into something at school, always having to serve cafeteria duty or dentition for doing things he shouldn't have been doing.

"But isn't that illegal?" she asked, speaking through her shock.

"Not really. I've only done small things like hunting through the files here and at school," he said, in a relaxed voice, "It's not like I'm messing with government data bases or anything like that. I'm good but I'm not that good yet. Give me a few more weeks."

Diane stared for a moment, gawking at JT. If he had read her file, he would know what was wrong with her. As much as they knew about what was wrong with her anyway since her underlying illness was still a bit of a mystery to all of her doctors.

That was the only thing she hadn't told him about. She wanted him only to know in the end. Before then, all Diane wanted was for him to treat her normally. Treat her just like anyone else who wasn't sick would be treated or as much as that was possible.

As it was, Diane knew she wasn't long for the world. The doctors, and there were many, had given her until her eighteenth birthday and that was if she was lucky. Lucky had never been part of Diane's name.

Slowly but surely, her heart muscles were giving out just like all the others in her body. Once her heart gave out for good, there was nothing else but the light at the end of the tunnel and a release from her little illness filled life. Thing was, Diane didn't want to be released from her life. True she was sick but she liked living a whole lot more than she had any right to.

"You're not going to rat me out are you?" JT questioned, staring pointedly at Diane as if trying to threaten or scare her.

"Who me?" she questioned, trying to sound hurt and failing ever so slightly, "I would never imagine ratting you out. You're not doing anything too horrible yet."

"Good, otherwise I was going to have to throw you out. I can't have you seeing something that you'd tell the higher ups about so then can come down here and get me," JT joked.

"Actually," Diane asked, slowly and far too seriously for a girl her age, "can you teach me how?"

JT looked from his computer screen to the young girl sitting next to him. He knew Diane was a stickler for the rules, following them to the letter at all times. Hadn't she just chided him for doing something illegal?

"I thought you didn't break the rules," quipped JT, pointing out a fact she seemed to exemplify.

"Never mind that. Can you teach me or not?" Diane pressed, still sounding serious.

It was true; part of her nature was to always follow the rules. She'd never once done something even remotely wrong, not even the smallest infraction like turning in a library book late. Before she left, she figured she might as well break a few rules. Through her computer, though, she could break them in the most nondescript way possible. As long as she was careful, of course.

Part of her knew she wanted to do this to leave a mark on the world. She had no family to speak of and, once she was gone, there weren't really that many people who were going to miss her. If she did something through the computer to gain fame, at least some name she used might be remembered.

That was a small- Very, very small- comfort for her.

"You know what, it might be useful to have like an assistant or something to keep an eye on things when I need a snack or something," JT commented, scheming as he was fond of doing, "I'll do it."

He was about to launch into an explanation of the finer points of hacking when something on the screen caught Diane's attention. She had an eye for the minute and the strange details of things which was why she excelled at puzzles and things like that. Her mind just worked that way.

"Who's that?" she asked, pointing to the single name in the chat room registry.

"Me," JT replied, "you never ever use your own name or your on-line name. When I work, I'm Hawk."

"So, do I get a cool name like that too?" Diane asked, half joking.

"Of course," JT replied, starting to scheme again.

He got quiet for a moment, eyes narrowing in thought. Diane could just imagine what he was thinking, what kid of name he was planning on giving her. It almost scared her to imagine JT's thought processes in relation to her.

"How about Rabbit?" he suggested.

Diane wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Though he affectionately called her Rabbit sometimes-a play on her on-line name- she did not approve of that as her alias. There was something wrong with the name but she could not figure out just what that wrongness was.

It hit her like a bolt of lightening.

"My name can't be Rabbit. There's just something wrong with the fact your assistant is also the name of what hawks prey on," Diane said with a slight smile, "I'm never going to be your prey JT if I'm helping you. That's all backwards."

JT took one look at Diane, studying her pale, sickly looking face. Underneath her mop of hair he knew she was hiding ears that stuck out a fair bit and her features reflected elven creatures. The people they lived with often teased her about those features all the time calling her "elf girl" and "lucky charms." The smile she was, currently, wearing--- half innocent, half mischievous--- aided in enhancing the comparison.

"How about Pixie?" JT brought up, pretty darn sure that she wasn't going to approve of the suggestion.

Diane grew dangerously quiet, considering JT suggestion. She'd been dealing with the jokes about her features since before she came to the home. Her late aunt and uncle use to tease her about them.

Then again, Pixie had a certain ring to it. The name appeared to suit her better than her given name, for some odd reason. It felt, for lack of a better word, right to her.

"I like it. Pixies are noted for getting into mischief. From now on, you'll be Hawk and I'll be Pixie," she stated with the same mischievous smile.

"Not going to ever call me JT again, are you? At least when it's just the two of us," he asked.

Diane…now Pixie…shook her head, sending a wave of dizziness coursing over her. She made a mental note not to do that again until she felt better.

When she recovered, she answered in an overly eager voice, "Never again when it's just you and me. Now, what are you going to teach me?"

JT…forevermore Hawk…just shook his head and set about giving the basics to his very fast learner of an assistant.

(AN: Well, what do you think? Please don't hurt me for making up more characters but I couldn't see Diane as Trinity. Let me know what you think, please! Good, bad, indifferent I don't care!)


	8. Flower Man

AN: Hi everyone! I hope everyone's having a wicked good time in school or where ever you are at the moment. I had my first genetics test today (first official test as a Graduate student) and someplace around page twelve of the test I was so ready to go home. It was really, really, really long and written by no less than three professors. It was really like taking three tests at once which was sorta strange. I hope school's going well for everyone else! Anywho, I'm happy so many people are reading and reviewing my little misadventure through the Matrix. I only started this story to keep myself busy and to entertain some thoughts in my head I had after one of the papers I wrote about the Matrix was done. Please, keep those reviews coming! I greatly appreciate them and I value any and every opinion on my little misadventure. The reviews make putting up this little story worth it!

Lindiel Eryn: I'm glad you're not upset she's not the white rabbit and that you think the name "Pixie" fit her. I was, actually, going to use the name "Rabbit" for her but that seemed weird to stick someone called Rabbit with someone called Hawk. She has her own white rabbits to follow, though.

AshleytheDragon: Well, thank you for the compliment. I assure you I'm no pro. I'm just a Graduate student with a whole lot of time on her hands and a liking for anything remotely related to science fiction. Yeah, I use to write all sorts of papers in college about _The Matrix_ movies and I sorta miss that now. It was always fun to write about science fiction in serious science classes. I've actual read some articles about the probability of us living in the Matrix and some of them were pretty interesting. Others, including the one I read about American Idol being a sign we live in the Matrix, were, well, odd.

pixie88: I know all about school being crazy busy so don't worry about that! It was sort of an accident that Diane saw what she saw but she still has to put two and two together to know what she saw. At the moment, it's just another big puzzle for her to work on. Sorry about the cliché but I'm glad you liked the fact JT came to her rescue. As for who she's going to bump into, Diane/Pixie is going to meet and go toe to toe with some of the more famous Matrix characters including Trinity and Neo. Here's more from my computer!

LiMiYa: Oh there's going to be some mischief managed for the two of the on many levels and JT/Hawk did agree to play teacher to Diane/Pixie but one should watch out for Hawk and his first suggestions about names. Sometimes that can play a lot into how he thinks of Diane/Pixie. I'm glad you like my characters. I have a penchant for making up characters when I have nothing else to do.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Though whenever they were around others, Pixie and Hawk were Jack and Diane, when no one was looking, they were Pixie and Hawk. Hawk was surprised to find that Pixie, despite the fact she was sick more often than not, proved to be an apt pupil. Everything he told her seemed to get absorbed into her mind and show back up whenever she needed it.

There in lay the problem for Hawk.

Pixie was learning quickly and Hawk was afraid that she would surpass him and he couldn't have that. Not when he plainly enjoyed playing teacher instead of the other way around. Pixie was the book smart type and was a big help when it came to Hawk having to do schoolwork. He was better with computers than books and enjoyed the fact he could teach Pixie a thing or two.

Of course, in order to keep her from knowing more than he wanted her to know, Hawk kept a few secrets to himself hoping Pixie would never notice. He wasn't ready to lose his status as the master of the digital world- even if it was in his own mind.

Still, things changed and somehow the impossible- Well the impossible in Hawk's mind- occurred.

"What did you do to my computer?" Hawk questioned, throwing up the heavy wooden door and storming into Pixie's room.

Pixie looked up from the puzzle she had been working on. Puzzles- The more complex the better- were a certain specialty of Pixie's. For some strange reason, she had an affinity for them and took a great deal of pleasure from being able to solve some of the more difficult ones. Though, she did dislike puzzles involving math and numbers. For some odd reason, she could never solve those, leading to a distinct dislike of math and most things number related.

At the moment, she was working on one of her "long term puzzles". The strange neon green symbols on their black field from several years previous had become a puzzle for her because she wasn't quite sure what they meant. Pixie had guessed at their vertical order early on mostly because she remembered the order they came out of her printer. Their horizontal meaning...she was still working on that. If there was any meaning at all in the seemingly nonsense strings of letters, numbers, and symbols.

"I didn't do anything," Pixie stated, not looking up at Hawk, "I've been doing this all day. You know I like puzzles and this is one of my favorites."

"Pixie, what did you do to my computer?" Hawk reiterated, more slowly.

He walked over, sitting on the floor next to the young female, forcing her to look him in the eyes. Pixie shied away, turning an interesting shade of red. She was a lousy liar and Hawk knew that. She could not look anyone in the eyes and openly lie to them.

Hawk knew that and used it to his advantage. He wanted the truth and he was going to get it in some way, shape, or form. Besides, he already convinced that Pixie had been busy in her mischief making. If that mischief making involved him, Hawk didn't know off hand.

As her namesake indicated, Pixie liked to cause general chaos around the internet. She liked to poke into places where she shouldn't have been and see what sorts of things she could change and rearrange. At least, that was what she did when Hawk was looking. Behind his back and when he wasn't around, Hawk wasn't entirely sure.

"I just wanted to see if it would work. He said he knew the systems well enough to get me in and let me do what I want," Pixie blurted, "I didn't mean anything by it, though. It was just a test….kinda."

"Oh so you did do something," Hawk quipped, sounding offended.

He'd gone to turn on his computer and found a bright green faerie staring him in the face. No matter what he did, he found he could not remove the image from the screen. It was stuck there and no amount of anything he did was going to remove it.

Hawk could only think of one person who would find putting a large, green faerie on the screen of his computer. Confronting Pixie, though, was just a shot in the dark. Apparently his shot was true.

"Kinda, sorta," Pixie stated, "but it was just a little thing."

She leaned back against her bed, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on top of them. Though she looked tired, for whatever reason, there was a strange sort of excitement in her eyes. The same excitement Hawk knew if whenever she was confronted with things she had thrown her interest toward...everything from solving puzzles to hacking and the philosophy bits she had read in school. The strange thing was that, in Pixie's little world, hacking and the battered philosophy book she was using in her English class appeared to go hand in hand for a reason Hawk couldn't see.

"I really just wanted to see if it would work. He said it would and I'm glad it did," Pixie added, some fondness in her voice.

"Who's this 'he' you're talking about Pixie Sticks?" Hawk asked, fighting to keep resentment out of his voice.

Yes, Hawk knew Pixie was either Pixie or Diane but he liked to throw in variations on her name every so often to amuse the two of them. Most she seemed to generally tolerate. The only one she had reacted to with a whole lot of anger was the nickname "Pix." For some reason, Pixie really didn't like having her name shortened like that.

Hawk was well aware of the holes he had left in her education so she would not get too far ahead of him in some way. Of course, he hadn't realized she would take steps to fill those holes in.

"I did some looking around and discovered there's this entire subculture of hackers out there. You just have to know where to look," Pixie explained, not really answering Hawk's question.

Mostly because she really didn't want to answer his question in full. She was half embarrassed she had even started looking for others like her but Pixie figured it was vain of her not to think there were others out there.

There really had to be because she had started coming across messages on bulletin boards and in strange chat rooms about something a group of hackers called the "Hacker's Question." Something to do with a theory about reality not really being real. The theory- which went every which way and followed all sorts of strange leads and stories- was interesting enough for Pixie to start poking around with it and trying to see where it took her.

One of the theories- The one she liked best- involved one of the philosophy related stories that had been explained in detail to her English class. That was the one she was holding to, if only to give her something interesting to thing about when she was doing homework for the class.

"And you found some of them?" Hawk assumed.

"Well, one of them found me. That's where I met this hacker calling himself 'Wheeler.' He's the one who helped me out," Pixie explained, "It's very interesting, though. Aside from that whole causing trouble thing."

She'd never mentioned the "Hacker's Question" to Hawk, figuring he wouldn't find it interesting. He wouldn't find it interesting mostly because it had to do with school and Hawk had a strong dislike for anything remotely related to schoolwork. She was sure that he hadn't done any of the readings for his English class.

"Can you show me?" Hawk inquired, wanting to know where his student gained information outside of his teachings.

"Show you what?" Pixie countered, truly unsure of what Hawk was talking about.

"Them...the other hackers," he replied.

"Ask me nicely and I might," Pixie retorted, strongly.

"Can you, please, show me?" Hawk said with a groan.

"Sure," Pixie said, nearly bouncing off the floor.

Hawk just shook his head, placing her strange reams of paper on her bed. It would be one less thing for Pixie to do, if she would up getting sick later on in the day. He spared a glance at the black and green not understanding a single thing on the long sheets.

As he retrieved a metal folding chair from between her dresser and bookcase, Hawk marveled at the speed Pixie worked. She seemed to move, swiftly, every motion having some purpose.

"You have to work swiftly when you're me. Just in case," she said, looking up from the list she appeared to be following.

Several keystrokes later, Hawk found himself, along with Pixie, in a chat room. Unlike the ones he visited, there were others here, mostly talking about idle things. They seemed to be familiar with each other in that strange way people who never met face-to-face but spoke on-line quite a bit were familiar with each other.

**_Pixie:_** (has escaped from Plato's cave again)

**_Peanut:_** I though he didn't want to go back to the cave at the end of the story.

**_Chian:_** You know, I don't think she really lives in a cave. I mean, you're not really a peanut. At least not _physically_ a peanut….

**_KWAN:_** He does have one rattling around inside his head, though. He's proved that to us several times.

**_Peanut:_** If I knew where you lived buddy...you'd suffer big time!

**_Wheeler: _**PIXIE! Did it work! Did it work!

Sitting in front of her monitor, Pixie tried her best to hide the smile on her face. Since deciding that Hawk was short changing her on what she needed to know, letting her curiosity get the better of her, and starting out on her own, she had been taken in by a small group of hackers. Though they only knew each other by their aliases, she felt they were as good as real friends.

It seemed strange that they she had no problems with making tentative friends with people she had never met. Unless that was a part of it. If they didn't see her, didn't really know her, she made a better friend. The one exception to the rule seemed to be Hawk who knew her in the actual sense.

**_Angelfighter:_** Who's this? Is she new?

**_KWAN:_** She's the local philosopher...and all around tricky kid.

**_Peanut:_** Even if she gets things wrong

**_Chian:_** Peanut, I'm warning you. One more comment and I'll...I'll…I'll do something you'll never forget.

**_Peanut:_** You'll what? You've never been able to get into my system yet

**_Chian:_** That's what you think...maybe you've missed something. Maybe you should go back and have a look….teehee

**_Pixie:_** Relatively new, I guess. HI WHEELER!

**_Wheeler:_** Did it work? I've been waiting for you to pop up to tell me.

**_Pixie:_** It did and I don't even think he was mad. More like surprised that I could do it. Thank you so much!

**_Angelfighter:_** What did she do?

**_KWAN:_** Hacked into her teacher's computer to show him she knows what she's doing.

**_Chian:_** First solo flight. Congrats kid!

**_KWAN:_** Good going, Pixie.

**_Peanut:_** Yeah...same here... (not like she'll be able to do it again)

**_Angelfighter:_** That's nice Peanut… real nice...

Pixie found it incredibly amusing that, in their little slice of the virtual world, roles had been assigned to each and every member of their little group. She was the new kid, untested in the ways of the hackers and Wheeler seemed to occupy the same sort of role since, according to him, he was about her age. Peanut was the agitator of the group and KWAN the calm one. Chian was the one to defend her and Wheeler and instigate Peanut. The only one Pixie wasn't sure about was Angelfighter seeing as how she'd never spoken to the other individual before.

**_Wheeler:_** What's next on the agenda, Pix?

"How come you never let me call you Pix?" Hawk asked.

Pixie shrugged, never having considered the answer to that question. She had just let Wheeler call her 'Pix,' he had never asked her for permission. It just sort of happened. It bothered her when Hawk did it but it seemed alright for Wheeler to do it. Maybe because it was the fact she had never met Wheeler face-to-face.

"He just kinda did and let him," Pixie commented, shyly.

"I'm going to call you, Pix, now," Hawk stated.

"No, you're not," Pixie, flatly, retorted, turning back to her screen, "I said I didn't like you calling me that."

"But you let some…freak….you never met call you that? That's no fair!" Hawk protested.

"Yes it is," Pixie countered, before turning her fingers back to the keys of her computer.

**_Pixie:_** Maybe a virus or something. I'm really keen on trying to make a small virus but I'll see. Depends on how I'm feeling.

_**DuoFiori has entered the room**_

"Who's that?" Hawk asked, pointing to the new name on the screen.

"No idea. Like I told Angelfighter, I'm relatively new to this place. Maybe he or she's someone I haven't met yet," Pixie explained.

"JT, where are you?" came a voice from the hallway.

"I think that would be Tony looking for you for your tutoring session thing," Pixie pointed out, trying not to stare at her screen.

The new name on the list, for some odd reason bothered her. She had been invited into the room by Chian on not so interesting day as she trolled around looking for some more interesting twists on the whole reality isn't real question. It had been said it was rare for anyone to just wander into the room. Then again, Pixie had only been with this group a scant few weeks. "DuoFiori" might have just been a member of the group she had yet to meet.

Hawk groaned, not particularly excited about having to leave. Having the elder boy help him in a subject he knew he was poor at was not high on the list of things he wanted to do at the moment. He had to go, though. Otherwise it meant trouble for him. As good as he was with computers, he was still expected to try his best at school, even if he really didn't care.

"I'm gone. Catch you on the flip side and send me how to get here. I want to talk to these people too," Hawk called, as he left the room.

Pixie waved her good-bye knowing, full well, she wasn't going to send anything to Hawk. Inviting him into the little world she had discovered was not something she was interested in doing. She knew him well enough to discern just what he would do if he was ever able to talk, as it were, to her friends.


	9. Invention in C Minor

AN: Another week (or so) and another update of my little misadventure in the Matrix! I hope everyone's having fun on this little adventure-or misadventure as it may be- with my characters. I really only wrote this story to pass the time and to get rid of some ideas that were floating around in my head at the time. Please feel free to comment on anything about this story because I'm always open to suggestion and I like to hear everyone's opinions on what I've written. All of your reviews come as a great shock and surprise to me and I appreciate every one of them. As trite as it sounds, I truly never expect to get reviews and I'm constantly surprised when I find them for my stories. All of you reviewers are the reason for my posting my little misadventures.

Lindiel Eryn: I hope you did well on your exam and I'm glad my update helped to get your mind off of things at school. Yup! Pixie's finding friends even though she's never met them face-to-face. Of course, she sees this as the reason why they're her friends in the first place…because they don't really know anything about her. As for Hawk, yes, he's getting a bit jealous over the fact Pixie's found friends and whether or not he comes around will show up later.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Pixie's gaze returned to the screen where her cursor was blinking almost enticing her to type something. It tempting her to put her fingers on her keyboard and send some little sentence into the virtual conversation she had been having with what Pixie figured amounted to her friends. Physically, though, her hands were poised over the keyboard, unable to move. All Pixie could do was gawk at the screen and the name of the person that had wandered into the conversation.

The arrival of the mystery person seemed to stun the usual members of the room into silence. No one, not even Peanut with his usual brand of "wisdom," had typed in a single word since the new person arrived. To Pixie, it seemed that they were all stunned as she was. This was an unexpected turn of events mostly because no on happened to stumble upon the room.

Like Wheeler before her, Pixie had been invited into the room by one of its pre-existing members.

The line announcing the hacker's arrival was all that remained on the screen. That and a strange sort of silence. The kind of silence that occurred in a virtual space so it was sort of a subjective silence. Subjective and contemplative in nature really.

**_KWAN_:** Who are you?

**Peanut:** Whoever they think they are, they better leave before I...

**_Chian:_** Watch it, Peanut, young eyes in the room.

**_Wheeler:_** I resent that remark!

**_Pixie:_** I second his resentment!

**_Angelfighter:_** No, you kiddies resemble that remark. We don't want to corrupt you, after all. What would your mommies and daddies say?

**_Peanut:_** A little late for that, they're corrupt enough. They hang out here with Chian, after all.

**_Chian:_** You know, Peanut, when I get my hands on your system….we're never going to see you again.

Pixie was almost glad to see the room return to normal and the conversation go back to whatever it was before the strange person came in. Still, the person's name was on the screen, watching their conversation unfold before them. That was a bit disconcerting, to say the least, for Pixie.

Still, the mysterious person had to be addressed. No one was going to allow him or her to sit there and play silent viewer on their conversation.

**_Peanut:_** Hey! Stranger! DuoFiori person! Who are you? How'd you find my lair?

**_DuoFiori:_** I am one of you; a hacker seeking to answer the hacker's question. I am sure all of you know what question I am speaking about.

Another silence, however hypothetical in nature it really was, filled the room. Pixie stared at her screen, trying to figure out just what question this person was speaking about. For a moment, it escaped her, eluding her as a rabbit eludes hawk. It fled, hiding among the other thoughts in her busy mind.

She knew the question, though. She had to because it was one of those thoughts in her busy mind most of the time. One of those things she mentally played with when she was bored or sick..

**_Chian:_** What is the matrix?

**_DuoFiori:_** VERY GOOD! At least someone in this forsaken little room knows what they are talking about. There is some intelligent life out there in the virtual world, after all. I'm impressed.

**_Peanut:_** Not this matrix stuff again...it's all something someone invented to sell video games or something. There is no matrix unless it's in a video game people like you--- Fiori person--- are trying to sell.

**_KWAN:_** I don't know, Peanut. I heard its a way to keep all the computers in the world in check. Some kind of like super system that's out there.

**_Angelfighter:_** Nah! It's a way for the governments to program, categorize, and easily reference all of us. You know, something where every computer attached to the internet is attached to a big mainframe so the government can make sure we're all doing whatever we're supposed to be doing.

**_Chian:_** Actually, it's one of those "Big Brother is Watching" type things. Of course, I have no idea what big brother is watching us right now but it's all the same. Someone's watching us for some reason.

**_Wheeler:_** I don't want to contradict anyone but I think it's how the combined governments of the world are planning to seize power and take over. Everything we're seeing on the news is just a front for that. It's like one big play in the playbook all the governments have and they're just waiting for the right time to use it.

**_DuoFiori:_** LOL! And here I had thought I stumbled onto intelligent life in this room. What about you, Pixie? Why is the young one so quiet? Does she not have a theory on the matrix? Maybe she's out there and isn't bright enough to say something.

Pixie was taken aback by the directness this mystery person was using. She knew full well that she was being baited and goaded into answering questions she wasn't really comfortable with answering at the moment. Especially after this DuoFiori character had so thoroughly mocked her friends.

Part of her was curious though. This mysterious person knew she was young- the youngest person in the room to be exact- but that fact had been dealt with what seemed like ages ago. That was part of the reason why she'd become so friendly with Wheeler. He was only a handful of months older than she. They were the babies in a room full of people older than she.

Pixie knew she had no choice but to answer, though. Letter by slow letter, she typed her response to DuoFiori's taunts.

**_Pixie:_** I think the matrix is like Plato's cave. We're all tied down to the walls of the cave and something shows us shadows of the real things by firelight. At least, that's the most interesting theory I've read and the one I guess I'd like to go by. Wouldn't it be strange if that were true? If that little allegory was actual fact?

**_DuoFiori has left the room_**

**_Angelfighter: _**Well, that person- Whoever they were- was rude. Someone should teach them a thing of two about being polite.

**_Peanut:_** (volunteers for the job)

**_Kwan:_** Right…..Peanut, man, you wouldn't know manners if they bit you on the nose. The concept's a little to big for your tiny brain.

**_Wheeler:_** What was that all about?

**_Chian:_** No idea, Wheeler, none at all.

**_Chian:_** Pixie, you alright over there? Why so quiet, kid?

**_Pixie:_** Just thinking is all. I'm fine…it was just strange….very, very strange.

Sitting in front of her computer, Pixie scratched her head and watched her friends go back to their idle banter. For some reason, she was disconcerted by the entire conversation the group had with DuoFiori. It was, as she told her virtual friends, very, very strange.


	10. Crystal Ship

AN: This probably has to be my fastest update to date on this site like ever. I figured that before things get crazy with school again, I should try to get some updates in. That and I'm really, really eager to put up the next part of this story. Things are about to get a little…strange…to say the least for Pixie and her friends. Please, let me know how you think this story is going, especially now since things are about to get a little less normal and a little more Matrixy. All of the reviews I get are surprises and are greatly appreciated. It always amazes me when I get them and I really do like hearing- or reading as the case may be- what all of you think of my little misadventure.

Lindiel Eryn: I do like doing things in Italian! It's my second language and I like messing around with it. The number two or the idea of there being two of something is sort of a running theme in this little misadventure for some accidental and strange reason. As for DuoFiori, she's someone who's come up before and is not getting a bit more page time. Most definitely, though, she's had an effect on little Pixie. How it plays out….well….that remains to be seen!

AshleytheDragon: Here's another update! Faster than the last one so I hope you like it! Here's a little bit more and I hope you like it just as much as you liked the previous chapter.

LiMiYa: Pixie has what amounts to friends in her mind, even if they've never met face to face. That fact may be important later on, in Pixie's mind anyway. As for Hawk, he's not exactly comfortable with the idea of Pixie branching out and learning new things from others. He'd rather be her teacher than have anyone else do it. DuoFiori may be looking for something and a new recruit or two might be just the thing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Beyond the conversation scrolling on the computer screen in Pixie's room and well away from the locations of anyone involved in said conversation, things were already in motion. Things that could be stopped, true, but the wheels had begun to turn.

It was plain to see that no living figure had been in the room for a very long time. It seemed the owners of the auto body shop had just picked up and left without moving a thing. All around were rusted piles of metal and cobwebs. Dust and grime caked every surface and graffiti was scrawled over the front of the building.

It was a desolate scene, one of depredation and poverty. It spoke to the area in which the once thriving auto body shop was located. From a thriving business center, the area had transformed into a place where crime was high and the price of a human life was low.

People lived and slept in a world that was dominated by crime and poverty. A world where the gang was law and everything else was just circumstance. A place where even the local police feared to go….which made the place ideal for those who wanted to keep a low profile.

Out of place in the run down surrounds was the only source of light in the room. Resting on a table that was being kept level by a rotting pile of old telephone books, was a new looking laptop computer. Wires boiled out of the machine like worms in a rainstorm. Its screen flickered, changing as the figure sitting in the battered chair in front of it typed. The features of the person were cast in the sickly glow of the screen, a pale green, eldritch light that cast unnatural shadows on both the surroundings and the figure's face.

The working figure stood and stretched her arms over her head, relishing the act that her bones cracked in that comforting way they did when a person had a good stretch. She wore a pinstriped suit jacket and matching pants that looked to be of a designer make. A fedora of the same design was on her head and, breaking up the even lines of her jacket, was a thick, dark brown braid. Round mirrored sunglasses, useless in the dead of night, hung from a button hole on her white dress shirt.

The figure looked every bit either the business woman- right down to the sensibly heeled shoes she wore- or some sort of throw back to the age of gangsters. Either way, like the computer, she was out of place in her surroundings.

She reached into a pocket of the jacket and pulled out a tiny telephone. Working swiftly, motions well practiced and expedient, she dialed a number not known in any phone company's book. Well, any phone book in this place.

"Operator," came the tiny voice on the other end of the line.

"Where's my exit? I have something very interesting for Cryo to take a look at," she stated, swiftly, eyes darting here and there as if she expected an attack at any given moment.

"Firth and Maine," the voice replied, "We'll be waiting for you."

With a click, she shut the phone and stowed it away in the pocket of her coat. Then, she set off at a run, watching her surroundings with a jaded eye. Heading for her home and whatever small amount of safely it provided.

What she had to say couldn't wait and she couldn't shake that eerie feeling she had that she was being watched. Someone was out there spying on her and her actions and it wasn't a good thing at all.

It felt unsafe and she trusted those instincts. They had kept her alive for a quite some time and she had every intention of staying alive for a very long time. She wouldn't allow them the satisfaction of her death.

Metal scraping against metal and a friendly hand to help a tired warrior to her feet. Those were the first thing she was aware of as the world and the cold came rushing back to her

Fiori blinked a handful of times, taking the hand that was offered. When she fully opened her eyes, like a sleeper just waking from a long and fitful sleep, she found herself looking at the smiling beetle black eyes of Izzy.

Fiori knew where she was right away, not even needing to look around her. She knew she rested in one of the suspension chairs in the Core of the _Rebel Dream_. The chair was where her body rested anyway as her mind and her virtual form had its little adventure in the false reality know as the Matrix.

Despite being cold and unpleasant, Fiori would have her home no other way. Seeing the truth could do that to a girl. Even if the girl had once been a part of a prominent family in Florence, Italy, and had lived in a lavish home with every creature comfort a girl could ever want.

"You've been in there a long time. I was starting to think you were going to spend the night or someone was going to have to come in after you. Hard work or hardly working?" he asked, curiously, making friendly conversation just because that was what he did.

"Not really. Just a lot of separate hacks. I was, literally, all over the place today. The Matrix was crawling with agents today. More so than usual, really," Fiori, glumly, replied.

Izzy made a sour looking face, hearing the name of the one thing that could dampen his generally light mood. Agents, sentient programs that seemed to have the ability to trace people like he and Fiori, were a constant threat. He'd lost many a friend to agents, though the crew of the _Rebel Dream_ had been lucky. There had been injuries on more than one occasion but never any deaths at their virtual hands.

That was something to be thankful for. A rare blessing to say the least.

"A lot of moving around, then?" Izzy asked, trying to get the conversation moving again and hoping to lighten both their moods again.

Fiori nodded her head, realizing that she was quite tired. It never failed to amaze her; the fact that things that occurred in the Matrix could have effects in her world...the Real World. She recalled, none to fondly, the time she had broken her wrist in the Matrix- getting away from the infamous Agents, of all things, back when she was a mere rookie- and awoke on the _Rebel Dream_ in real pain. The work she had done in the Matrix, the moving from place to place in order to avoid detection, had taken its tole on her Real World body.

"More than I'd care to think of but I did find something Cryo should like. Took me a while but I think I've got it. They're getting better at shutting down those getting closer to the truth and those of us looking for them," Fiori stated, sounding displeased.

"Then you heard about what happened with Wedge on the _Rebel Stand?_ That mess him and Jag got into during their last jaunt looking for free-able minds," Izzy commented.

The _Rebel Stand_ was the sister ship to the _Rebel Dream_. Wedge and Jag were two of the crew members on the ship, working under the captain Euchro and first mate Oxide.

"Yeah, sticky business with Wedge breaking...What was it? ...three bones in his leg. I got lucky this time," Fiori retorted with a shrug.

It was one of the many ugly truths that came with the job she had. Living a life that was constantly in danger and seemed to be on borrowed time at all times. She knew she and her friends were lucky that they escaped today's little adventure in the Matrix without any detection. With all the moving and poking around she did today, it was a wonder that the Agents in the Matrix or the Sentinels in the Real World, hadn't gotten to any of them today.

Still, her contacting individuals still in the Matrix put them at risk too. Well, what they were doing was risky to begin with, whether they knew it or not. The danger and the focus on them was increased because she had them answering the "key question." Right answer or no, risk was still there.

For a few moments, the pair walked along in silence, coming to a stop in front of a heavy metal door. The mood seemed to have come crashing down around the pair with the mention of Agents. Izzy banged once, receiving no answer from the person on the other side.

He shrugged and commented, "He said he knew you had to talk to him."

Fiori pushed the door open, wincing as a slight creak filled the metallic hallway. She made a mental note to tell Izzy to get some oil on that. There was no doubt Izzy was a fine hacker--- could crack any code known to man or machine--- but he was also a skilled repairman. His hands were equally deft on the keys or with tools. More often than not, he worked on board the ship, trying to keep the _Rebel Dream_ from falling apart. It wouldn't do to have the ship fall apart during some key event.

As it was, the ship was already limping because of some mechanical malfunction. Izzy was just "maintaining" the situation until they could get to Zion and have the ship well and truly repaired.

"Sit," Cryo stated, getting right to the point and skipping all the pleasantries most would bother with, "Agon said you had some information for me."

Fiori sat down on the captain's bed, musing "I knew it didn't sound like Mika operating."

Out loud she answered, "I found a neat little clutch of minds that the agents have tried to stifle yet. It looks like there's a good chance we can free all of them. There's one you'll find especially interesting."

She handed over a small metallic disk that had been stowed in the pocket of her standard issue black pants. The grizzled captain took the disk, turning it over in his hands. He had been working with Fiori long enough to know two things.

First that she was a good enough warrior to earn the right to be his first mate. She was vicious in the midst of the fight, despite her upbringing in the Matrix, and could lead when it was necessary. She even earned enough respect from Torrent that the occasionally immature young man would listen to her.

The second was her only weakness that he could discern. She would advocate for any cause with the utmost passion and vehemence. When he said any cause, Cryo meant any and every cause. That included the freeing of minds.

"What ages are we talking here? You know the rules," Cryo prompted, "We don't want anyone who's too hold and has their firm grip and too young makes for too many ugly questions."

"Youngest just passed her fifteenth birthday oldest is about seventeen. They're good ages to be freed, sir, " she replied, "No nasty questions and no problems with grips on reality. If we get the seventeen year old now, things should be alright for her."

"What is it about this case that you said I'll find interesting? Fiori, I know how you are when it comes to these things and I'm not arguing with you again," Cryo brought up with an almost shudder.

The last time the two of them had a disagreement, an argument that lasted more than a few days, Izzy and Mika wound up allowing them to duke it out in a training program until they felt better and things were resolved. Cryo, being the older of the pair, was pretty sure he was never going to get over some of the bruises she had left him with.

That had been the same day he declared her his first mate even though the position should have gone to Izzy or Mika.

Since then, getting into any type of altercation with his first mate was something Cryo avoided. He really didn't want to have to duke it out with the young woman again because she promised that she wouldn't hold back…not that she had held back the first time but Cryo understood the point.

"She's just a kid, sir, just past fifteen but she was talking cave theory like a seasoned vet. Something like that can't be ignored," Fiori informed the captain, "Even if she's still new at all this and believes it's nothing more than a theory but…I don't know."

"Those are good ages," Cryo complemented, "We'll see what we can do. I'm not making any promises, Fiori, so don't get all whiny on me if things don't happen the way you want them to."

"I promise I won't sir," the first mate replied, flipping her braid over her shoulder and knowing that she wasn't being entirely truthful with her captain, "I'm just glad we're going to try. They're all good minds and we need the bodies."

The last part Cryo could agree with. Bodies were always needed in Zion…even if it was just to annoy the Machines running the Matrix to have more little willing batteries taken away from them.

"Fiori," he called as she started for the door to get some food and then some rest in that order, "Get Torrent to start looking for available ships. I'm only going to take one of these kids. This is your baby now, Fiori, so pick a time and a team."

A smile crossed Fiori's face as she was awed by the responsibility being thrown at her. Hungry but not tired anymore, she went to seek out Torrent- who was probably holed up in his room or hiding from Mika someplace in the ship- and get him started.

There was worked to be done…..there were minds to be freeded.


	11. Acolyte of the Flux

AN: Now this has to be some kind of record for me! I'm updating again! Maybe it has to do with the fact I have a good chunk of this story already typed and I'm just eager to post it. Actually, I have a very good reason to be eager to post this story. This story's been sitting in my computer a very long while and has been subject to all sorts of strange things. That includes having….oh….nearly all of it…. deleted when my computer first crashed ages ago. Thankfully someone had copies of the parts I sent them to read saved in her e-mail. All I had to do was fill in the missing parts and there were quite a few of them! Anywho, I'm hoping to get this posted and avoid losing anymore of it to the demons living in my computer! Again, and as always, thanks for your reviews! I appreciate them greatly and they're always a surprise to find them for my little misadventures.

Lindiel Eryn: Nope….it was an accident on my part. Sorry about that. I guess I should stop adjusting parts of my stories at like 4AM when I'm nearly asleep on my feet. Actually, the ship names mentioned in that chapter were made up in the sense that they didn't come from _The Animatrix_ or any of the other movies. They're really just titles of "New Jedi Order" novels converted into ship names because, for some very strange reason, they seemed to fit best. I'm sorry about school, though. Sounds like you're wicked busy….I hope you're having fun though or, trying to, anyway.

AshleytheDragon: LOL…well, I'm trying the best I can to update as fast as I can! I hope this update was fast enough and I'm glad you like this story that much. Here's another installment of my little misadventure involving false realities, curious computer hackers, people name after flowers, and a little girl with thick glasses.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

It had taken far longer that Fiori had liked for things to come together. She had trouble getting ships willing to free another individual and then there was the small problem of being where the minds were. Each of the potential candidates for freeing was in totally different parts of the world; according to the information Fiori had Mika and Torrent gather for her.

Wheeler was from a small Texas town called Arcadia; Chian from some large city on the East Coast. Peanut was a Midwestern town and Pixie lived in a small orphanage in some city not quite as big as the one Chian was from. Kwan was straight out of India while Angelfighter moved between Japan and mainland China.

Still, Fiori had managed to put things together, gather enough people for a meeting of the minds- which was more or less the truth all things considered- to take place within the treacherous confines of the Matrix.

The small room in the abandoned storage facility- the location of the meeting Fiori had engineered- was in the process of being transformed from something more than a series of small, empty rooms. It had to be made safe for the amount of minds that were getting ready to discuss adding to their numbers.

The door was secured, leaving a man clad in black jeans and a patterned dress shirt to act as a guard. Though his slicked back hair, gold chain, and smile were not imposing, the weapon in his hands was. He was definitely not a person to trifle with, even though Izzy did like a good joke every so often. Just not at the moment.

Torrent and Agon looked around the room self-consciously as the dirty and dusty confines began to fill up. Figures, all serious looking and grim, were coming in in pairs and groups. All looked as if they were expecting an attack at any moment but being that suspicious was what kept them alive for so long.

It had become a pattern none of them really desired to change in anyway.

Agon, particularly, felt out of place among the grey and black clad figures. She wore a bright blue, hooded sweatshirt with the word "Dancer" splashed across her chest in red letters. It was a bit of a throw back to her attire before she'd left the Matrix. Taking her name from a piece of music by Igor Stravinsky used by George Balanchine for one of his plotless dances, Agon had been a ballet dancer before hacking and the Matrix caught her interest. Her clothing was a mimic of what she was most comfortable wearing in the Matrix.

Dancing from foot to foot next to her was a black sweat suit wearing Torrent. He really didn't want to be in the crowded room even though not being there would have meant him being stuck with Mika. He was only there because Cryo had said all of them had to come and put on a good show for the other captains and crews.

"Sir, I don't understand why we're here. I mean, you said captains and first mates only. I understand that Izzy's here to act as a guard but Tor and I have no reason for being here," Agon brought up, speaking faster than she really should have.

"You're here because I asked you to be here and that's that. No more questions from the peanut gallery," Cyro snapped over his shoulder, speaking to the pair standing behind him in flanking positions.

He had taken a good long look at the data provided by his first mate, after telling her to get everything set up for this meeting, of course, analyzing the files she had amassed on the small group of hackers. Her conclusion, that the minds of these children could be freed, was a true one. Nearly all of them, save one who seemed to be a stubborn character, was walking on the rail thin line that separated fact from fiction. They were getting dangerous and the system didn't like dangerous things.

That had been the easy part, deciding to get the minds out of the Matrix.

Trying to find ships that were willing to answer Fiori's call had proven to be far more difficult. Captains weren't do keen in answering a summons by the younger first mate. Cryo, himself, had to assure many of them that Fiori wasn't making things up. This meeting, and the need for it, was genuine.

Tentatively, Torrent asked, "Don't bite my head of, sir, but just how many ships did you ask to come to this meeting?"

"Six, one for each potential," Cryo answered, trying to keep his tone even.

"We're taking one? Why?" groaned Agon, covering her mouth just after she spoke.

She didn't want to have Cryo jump down her throat again but she really wanted to know. It didn't seem all that fair to start training even one of the older people in the group. Better to leave them in Zion and give them the choice about taking a job on a ship or nor.

"Taking but not keeping," Cyro corrected, "I'm not having a half pint on my craft."

As they spoke, other captains and their respective first mates began to trickle into the room. Most cast wary glances at Cryo and his crew; slightly unsure as to why this meeting was so urgently called. Most of the time, unless it was an exceedingly special case, getting minds out of the Matrix was not something that involved a mass meeting and a quick response.

"What's all this for, Cryo?" questioned another grizzled captain; the captain of the ship known as the _Rebel Stand_.

"New potentials, Euchro. More kids to give the choice to and to take our place when we buy the farm," Cryo joked, shaking the hand of the other man.

"Who found them?" questioned a rusty haired youth standing just behind Euchro.

"I did, Oxide," Fiori countered, "is there something wrong with that?"

Ignoring the confrontation his first mate was about to get into, Euchro asked, "Who did you call, other than Oxide and myself? Fiori said there would be a couple of ships called in order to make the load easier to carry."

"Soren from the _Vigilant_, Niobe from the _Logos_, Thaddeus from the _Osiris_, and, much to my dismay, Morpheus from the_Nebuchadnezzar_," Cryo answered, giving the last name with barely restrained hostility in his voice.

Morpheus, regarded by many as being slightly mad, was a last minute call for Cyro and his crew. Initially, he and Fiori had every intention of leaving the mad captain out of his plans until Kali's _Brahma_ had pulled out on them at the last minute. Not that Cryo blamed her. If his crew was in a bad way because of agents, he wouldn't be taking any side jobs.

Problem was, that left Cryo scrambling for a quick replacement. The only one they had managed to get in contact with before the meeting had started was the _Nebuchadnezzar_. Much to their communal chagrin…

"Six captains one for each potential. Did you take into account what might happen of one of them says no and the others don't want to double up?" Euchro brought up, "You're going to get stuck with a kid and no crew to take them out."

"No one is going to say no. There's no way they can," Cyro retorted, his voice full of confidence, "Crazy Morpheus is here and he'll take a more than one if need be just to annoy the people in charge."

Eurcho decided no to press the matter further. He had no incredible need to know just why his friend, his brother, felt that way. He had learned a very long time ago that some things were better left unsaid.

Besides, part of it was true anyway. Morpheus was crazy and he did like to annoy Zion control. There was always the chance that by pulling more than one person out, he could accomplish that.

As the final pair filtered into the small room, Cryo explained the purpose behind his calling of the meeting. Most watched the older captains with a look of mild amusement on their faces. One did not survive as long as Cryo did without taking only the most calculated risks. This meeting, a small gathering of freed minds, was one such risk.

"You called this meeting because you want us to help you free some minds? Why can't you do it yourself?" questioned Niobe, the only female captain in the room and one of the youngest in the gathered group.

"The _Rebel Dream_'s limping as it is. We can only carry one of these kids back to Zion. There's no two ways about that. I'm not putting my entire crew at risk to take more than one," Cryo explained.

As the other captains went through the data files piled on the table, trying to decide which one of the six they would rather have on their ship for an undetermined period of time and how much time they could make for a full scale rebuilding. Location of the six were taken into consideration because some places were isolated at broadcast depth, having only one or two points to be able to properly broadcast the signal to hack into the Matrix.

"Just so you are all aware, this Pixie character is just a kid. Like an honest to goodness kid with some sort of freakish health issue. I don't know how many of you want to deal with something like that on your ship or are prepared to take an ordeal like that on," Cryo explained.

"Don't look at me," quipped Euchro, "I don't want any part of that on my ship. Take a look at her data file; she wouldn't even survive the unplugging. She's got a heart problem and that makes her more than a small risk."

"I will take her," came the voice of one of the many male captains in the room, "I'm sure if she has lasted this long within the system as sick as she is, she can last through an unplugging."

"Suit yourself. I'm taking this Peanut character. I'd like to show him juts how fake the matrix is," retorted Cyro.

With a data file in hand, the gathered captains began to make their way towards their exits. The meeting had to be as brief as possible in order to make it as safe as possible for them to leave and get on with their little side assignments.

Each had to formulate a plan in order to get their quarry out. Of course, like any good plan involving the Matrix, it had to be made flexible. Things were liable to happen at the drop of a hat. It was just the nature of the beast….the nature of the Matrix and the Agents of it's vast and malevolent system.


	12. Remember Me

AN: Hiya all! Hope everyone's having a good week or so and getting ready for Halloween. Since I'm a Girl Scout leader, I get the esteemed honor of having to get myself a costume and dress up for our troop's Halloween Party. This year, because one of the other leaders stole my original costume idea which I think isn't fair, I'd going as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. The only thing I'm not doing is wearing a wig…my hair's too long to wear a wig comfortably and it makes me look odd. My sister's going as Raggedy Anne, even though she's fighting my mom (the troop's coordinator) about wearing a costume. Anywho, enough about Halloween. Thanks for all the reviews for my little story! They're greatly appreciated!

Raijan: It's quite alright about being in a hurry! I know that feeling. Anyway, the person who takes Pixie out of the Matrix will be revealed fairly soon. As for Hawk, he'll find his way…somehow.

Lindiel Eryn: I'm glad you liked the fact the others kind of thought Morpheus was a bit crazy. I figure that he has such strong convictions about things that, sometimes, it goes beyond what people understand so they just see him as crazy. Still, I'm happy you liked the appearance of cannon characters and I hope I did them justice. The person responsible for getting Pixie out will be revealed shortly…sooner than later, really.

LiMiYa: It's one of the _New Jedi Order_ books, actually. I'm sort of a Star Wars fanatic but the name seemed to fit in a strange sci-fi/ cyberpunk crossover way. I'm happy you liked the way Morpheus was regarded by all the other captains, especially Cryo and his little band. Perhaps, though, it was a good thing they were forced into having Morpheus attend…even if he comes off as a bit crazy.

AshleytheDragon: Well, I'm glad I could help keep up your superpowers and I will try to update as soon as humanly possible. I, too, am a fan of Morpheus (and, oddly enough, Agent Smith) because he is slightly crazy. Pixie's mind will be freed and who earns that very task will be revealed soon. Furbys, huh? I had one of those but I never put batteries in it. They're sort of freaky in a creepy way.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Diane- in full Pixie mode but dressed in green pajamas with a purple sweatshirt over them- sat at the computer because there wasn't very far she could go. Her hands flew over the keys, a wheezy laugh filling her eerily silent room. It was just the click of the keys and her strange laugh that provided the soundtrack for her at the moment. There no need for anything else because she was rather enjoying the chaos she was causing at the moment.

Earlier in the day, when she hadn't been feeling so horrible, Pixie had wandered over to the internet cafe down the street from the home she lived in. From there, she e-mailed a screensaver containing a rather nasty virus to a person in the home. A virus, like a genetic engineer seeking to have some gene expressed, she had created herself. Tinkering with its computerized genome until she got the desired effects from it.

The virus had spread throughout the building just like the virus that was, at the moment, spreading throughout the cells of her body. It had come in and infected every cell, every unit in the home she lived in. Of course, no one was happy about having their computers being taken off line for a few days until they could figure out how to fix the problem but that was the nature of things. Sometimes one needed to take a rest in order for the virus to be successfully defeated by the system.

Strangely enough, no one noticed that there were only two computers in the entire building that were unaffected. Two computers that were virus free and still working. The lack of notice spoke volumes about the chaos Pixie's little construct had caused and that brought a smile to her pale and fevered face.

Pixie's own computer had not fallen prey because she was not stupid enough to download her own file. Even if she did, she had the antiviral program squirreled away in her desk someplace…just in case.

The other belonged to Hawk because she had told him and made him promise, on pain of his own death, not to say anything to anyone about it. Thankfully, Hawk- who still wasn't exactly pleased with Pixie learning things on her own and from the strange "Wheeler" character- hadn't said a word. Like his partner in crime, he was sitting back and enjoying the chaos.

The others, however, were not so lucky. They had gotten their computers infected just by downloading a file.

Pixie flicked over to her usual chat room, sighing when she saw that none of her friends had come on. Oddly enough, they hadn't been on in several days, causing her to begin to worry. It wasn't like them not to come on at night and for them to have their usual discourses about nothing and everything at once.

Truth be told, Pixie missed the friendly banter with people she didn't really know. Out of all of them, though, Pixie found she missed speaking with Wheeler the most. She wanted to tell him what she had done but found the boy- since she knew he was male- hadn't come on at all in the past few days.

The young girl would have paid those feelings more mind if she hadn't wound up with her rear end in the hospital. Another little flair up of the mysterious illness that seemed to be working against her. This time it was because she hadn't been able to catch her breath after laying down to go to sleep on seemingly normal night.

Randall hadn't told her but she knew what the doctors were whispering about while she sat with an EKG running off her chest. Two words she knew were coming. Didn't mean she had to like it or wanted to hear them so soon but reality was what it was and it could be a cruel master sometimes.

"Cardiac failure," she had heard them whisper.

They had promised her until eighteen. Given her their word that she would be, at least, be able to graduate high school.

Seemed to her she wouldn't make it to see her sweet sixteen.

The tell tale signs were already beginning to develop. Some of her "usual" problems had gotten worse. Even the smallest exertion was causing her to lose her breath and an overall feeling of weakness and fatigue had begun to set in. Sleeping and eating had become a regular chore. Plus there was the occasional fluid retention in the ankles and feet she liked to pretend wasn't there on the days she couldn't get her socks and shoes on but it was.

A knock at her door broke her from her self imposed and frankly bleak reverie.

"It's open," she called; turning in her chair to face the door, glad for the break from her gloomy thoughts.

Her door opened ever so slightly. Standing in the wooden frame was a very nervous looking Hawk. In his hands, despite the late hour, he carried his bright orange windbreaker. The boy kept jumping at shadows and seemed to have become very paranoid in the last few hours since Pixie had seen him.

"Where are you going? It's way past curfew," Pixie questioned, trying to get up and deciding against it.

That took more effort than she was ready and willing to put forth. It was enough she had to go from her chair to her bed sooner or later. Pixie sat back and regarded her partner in crime with a careful eye.

"Look, I've found out some stuff that I have to look into. I don't think I'm coming back if I get the answers I'm thinking I'll be getting," Hawk replied, fractured ideas in his head making an attempt to be expressed as coherent thoughts.

Pixie blinked a handful of times as her tired mind tried to process what Hawk was telling her. He had said he was leaving but that didn't sound right to her. Hawk, for all his bluster, wasn't very brave or very clever, except where computers were concerned. Leaving to find answers to questions he hadn't told her about was something uncharacteristic for him.

Especially if he didn't intend to come back. That was the answer to the ultimate question she and her friends use to discuss. The friends she had never told Hawk about and the question the two of them never discussed.

Unless he was working alone, Pixie wasn't sure that Hawk even knew about the proposed false reality of the Matrix.

"Wait a second," she stammered, words tumbling out like water down a fall, "where are you going? Can I go with you?"

Hawk shook his head and replied, with some smugness in his voice, "You can't, not yet anyway. You're not ready. That's what they told me when they asked me to meet with them."

"But where are you going?" Pixie whined, wanting to know and feeling as if she was being jilted in some way, shape, or form.

"No idea but you have to stay alive long enough for me to take you there. Can you, at least, do that for me?" Hawk countered, trying to force a promise out of Pixie.

"How did you….," she sputtered, getting cut off.

Her illnesses were never spoken about on any level. She had not wanted Hawk to know what was ailing her until the very end. That way, someone, would treat her as if she was just another teenager. Though she disliked lying to someone she thought of as a friend, she just didn't want to have to deal with pity and sad looks. Those could come later when she was dead and gone.

"I looked in your files. I had to know, Pixie Sticks, why you were sick all the time. Just hang on, I'm coming back for you," Hawk let her know, just before he dashed out the door.

Later that night, for the first time in a very long time, Pixie cried herself to sleep. The clock on the wall ticked on how long she was going to be part of this world and now, it seemed, there'd be no one to remember her.


	13. Pinch Me

AN: Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a good Halloween and got plenty of candy in one form or another to eat. Alas I will be spending my Halloween studying for my Molecular Biology midterm instead of giving out candy and watching scary movies as I usually do. Maybe I'll multitask and do everything anyway….that could always work. Midterms, though, have that annoying ability to make everything in the world seem less fun. Especially the ones that don't involve writing essays. I do like writing a good ten page paper every now and then, especially when the paper is about something fun! Anywho, thank you for all the reviews! They make my day and make me smile in the middle of all my studying! Please, keep them coming as I greatly appreciate them!

Raijan: Let's just say, Hawk "accidentally" got his ticket out. How he actually managed the mean feat of escaping when Pixie knows more than him will be revealed shortly. Pixie may get herself out and my find that she isn't the only one who did (other than Hawk of course). Yes, I'm a fan of Agent Smith (stemming from the fact I'm a _Lord of the Rings_ fan and he played Elrond) and he may pop up but not with any long speeches or anything. Very cool name! Mine comes from a combination of my favorite things, genetics (and the X-Men), Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.

Lyidia: Many thanks! I'm glad you like my little misadventure! Here's my latest update!

AshleytheDragon: Well, make sure you're not beating up too many agents. Sometimes that can end in a not super happy way! I'm sorry the end was sad….I try to stay away from sad things but this time something sad was sort of called for. After all, Pixie's lost a person she considers a "friend" and has come to the realization she's going to die. Not very happy things. Have no fear, though! Things will get better! I'm glad you like my other stories and I do enjoy insanity every now and again. Continue to review and I'll continue to update!

(AN: I don't own the song I'm using in this chapter. The only reason I'm including it is because it was the song I was listening to when I was writing this and it seemed to fit. The song is called "Pinch Me" by The Barenaked Ladies and, again it's not mine. Think of it as playing on a radio somewhere in the scene.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Days turned into weeks and it seemed Hawk had, like the bird he was nicknamed for, had flown away. He'd been declared a missing person but Pixie knew no one was going to find him. He wasn't going to turn up dead someplace or anything of the sort.

Like her hacker friends, like everyone who seemed to mean anything to her, they had gone and left her alone.

_It's the perfect time of year__  
__Somewhere far away from here__  
__I feel fine enough I guess__  
__Considering everything's a mess_

Even though she wasn't really supposed to Pixie had to get out of her room. Of course, considering the state she was in, she couldn't get very far. The furthest she could get before tiring was the internet café- with its quiet radio playing The Barenaked Ladies tune "Pinch Me" on its quiet speakers- a few blocks from the building she lived in.

Her home away from home where she could sit and get away from the world she currently existed in. To get away from the bleakness of the room she had once enjoyed and was willing to call home.

There was an oxygen tank in her room now, to help her when she became short of breath and there had been talk of catheriderizing her because she kept getting up to go to the bathroom during the night. Not that she was sleeping, but that was a different story

She had once been a very wiry built person but that had all changed, too. Her weight had gone up and fluid had accumulated in her extremities, especially her ankles, feet, and abdomen giving her a swollen look.

_There's a restaurant down the street__  
__Where hungry people like to eat__  
__I could walk but I'll just drive__  
__It's colder than it looks outside_

Pixie sat at a computer console in the internet cafe, looking for her friends. The last of her hacker buddies, Wheeler, had gone missing. It was feasible that they could be someplace where they were unable to access a computer but, in her gut, Pixie knew that wasn't true. They had disappeared just like Hawk had. Leaving her alone...

All she could do was search for them and for Hawk. It was what was keeping her going, keeping her walking and talking and fighting the failure of her heart.

She felt that if she stopped searching, sudden death was waiting for her. She needed to have a mission in order to keep fighting and searching was her mission at the moment

No matter how dumb that sounded to her and to her doctors. They all knew, no matter how much of a purpose Pixie insisted on having, she was going to have to make her exit from the mortal coil sooner rather than later.

_It's like a dream you try to remember but it's gone__  
__Then you try to scream, but it only comes out as a yawn__  
__When you try to see the world beyond your front door_

All of a sudden the monitor of the computer she was using went dark. An event that was unusual in the well run, well organized café she frequented.

"What in the world?" she mused, getting up to call over someone to take a look at her console since she really didn't want to try to fix it herself.

A single glowing letter appeared on the darkened screen, drawing Pixie's attention away from getting help. She plunked back into her chair eyes drawn to the tiny glowing letter. It was almost as if it had some sort of siren call to her, a beckoning, if you will, to force her into inaction.

The letter, a single "Y" grew into a phrase, taking up only a fraction of the space on the screen.

**You are right about the cave.**

"The cave? Plato's cave?" Pixie asked herself, suddenly aware of the fact it was only her station behaving in such a manner and that she was talking to herself, "That's just a story. An allegory meant to teach something."

Her own words sounded silly in her mind. After all the conversations she had with Wheeler and the others, she had started to believe in the idea that there was a cave and they were all really trapped within its stony confines. It was just one of those crazy things Pixie believed like her continued search for her missing comrades was going to keep her alive.

** There is truth and there is light. Smile! There's a way out of the cave.**

Pixie was thoroughly confused as the sentence was wiped of her screen and replaced by another.

_Take your time, 'cause the way I rhyme's gonna make you smile__  
__When you realize that a guy my size might take a while__  
__Just try to figure out what all this is for_

Her mind, tired as it was from fighting against her own inevitable end, was struggling to wrap itself around the messages it was seeing. Was someone out there validating her theories, telling her that the Matrix was real?

Who was this person, though, and why was he or she telling her this now? Was it real or a cruel joke being played on her by someone else?

Maybe a little hacker ruse by Peanut and his horrid sense of humor or by Angelfighter because Pixie got the sense- How was beyond her but that was a whole other story- she didn't like her one bit.

Another wipe of the screen and another change of message broke the young girl's reverie.

**Double, Double--- remember your English lessons**

With that, the screen returned to normal, showing the website Pixie had been playing on before her screen went dark.

"Weird...very, very weird," she mused, trying to shake off the odd feeling that seemed to be washing over her.

Suddenly, unreality was replacing the norm. It was odd enough that the computer had "spoken" to her, regurgitating a theory she had created in the company of others who thought like her. Even odder was the fact the computer was validating the theory for her.

Its last line made no sense to her, though. It had no place in the theory she had created. True, in her English class, she had studied Plato's cave but the "Double, Double" thing was from a different lesson entirely.

_It's the perfect time of day__  
__To throw all your cares away__  
__Put the sprinkler on the lawn__  
__And run through with my gym shorts on_

"Double, double toil and trouble," came a voice from behind her, catching Pixie off guard and heightening the sense that she was rapidly floating away from what use to be considered the norm for her and her world.

Pixie was unsure why she had said it but she replied with, "Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

"Double, double toil and trouble," the voice repeated.

"Something wicked this way comes," Pixie mumbled.

There was only one person she knew who could go line for line with her like that. She knew it because she had been the person to teach him that part of "Macbeth" for an English test he had to take. Memorization was always a chore for him and Pixie, because she felt she owed him something for teaching her the barebones of hacking, had made it her goal to see to it he learned his stuff for said test.

Needless to say, he had remembered the words because of her. Of course, though, he managed to foul something else up, resulting in a lower grade and an extra credit assignment she had to help him with.

Pixie turned in her seat to face the owner of the voice behind her and nearly toppled out of said seat in shock.

_Take a drink right from the hose__  
__Change in to some drier clothes__  
__Climb the stairs up to my room__  
__And sleep away the afternoon_

"I told you I'd come back," Hawk commented, as Pixie faced him.

Sure enough it was Hawk but not the Hawk she remembered. Gone were his signature wife beater t-shirt and denim shorts. They'd been replaced by black jeans and a large black, hooded sweater.

"Hawk, I missed you," Pixie said, standing up and embracing her friend.

Something she wouldn't have done if not for the fact she was totally and utterly glad to see the boy. She could still search for the others but she could at least be happy Hawk was back.

"Pixie, man, you look awful," Hawk said, holing Pixie at arm's length.

"You try dying slowly," Pixie spat, throwing it up into Hawk's face like it was some sort of dirty insult.

"You don't have to die," Hawk, knowingly, informed Pixie.

"That's not what a gaggle of doctors told Randall," Pixie countered, "You know, while you were gone, they put an oxygen tank in my room because my breathing's gotten worse. It's just a matter of time now."

_It's like a dream you try to remember but it's gone__  
__Then you try to scream but it only comes out as a yawn__  
__When you try to see the world beyond your front door_

"If you come with me, you won't die," Hawk stated, after a few moments of silence.

Pixie gave Hawk a skeptical look. They were friends but she was loath to trust him. He wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box when it came to everything except computers.

The idea of not having to die, to see something beyond her sixteenth birthday, was extremely attractive though. It was normal to want to live part the normal span of ones years and Pixie was no exception in wanting that. Beating what had once been a given death sentence was high on her list of things to do.

"How can you say that to me?" Pixie retorted, still wary and now getting angry about Hawk being able to promise her life in a teasing way, "You saw my file from the home. You know what's going on with me."

"Look, come with me. Listen to what this guy has to say. If you don't like it, you can come back here. I promise that much," Hawk cajoled, "But I know you and I know you really don't want to buy the farm."

He had her pegged, he really did. Pixie didn't want to die and would have given her right arm for a way around it. Still, not wanting to believe Hawk- lest she get her hopes up and they com crashing down around her-, Pixie could only grudgingly accept Hawk's offer.

"Fine," she breathed, after thinking for awhile.

The idea that she didn't have to die was far too tempting. It overrode reason and rhyme; made her do something she would normally not have done because it didn't seem like the bright thing to do.

Pixie allowed Hawk to tell her what to do.

_Take your time, 'cause the way I rhyme's gonna make you smile__  
__When you realize that a guy my size might take a while__  
__Just try to figure out what all this is for_

She followed Hawk out of the internet cafe and down the street, heading for a more desolate area of their small city. To Pixie, who had lost the ability to catch her breath, the walk was a chore. It felt too long, too strenuous for her. Her chest burned as a failing heart tried to pump oxygenated blood to the rest of her form.

She tried toughing it out, not really wanting to show Hawk just how dire her straits were. He seemed not to care, either way. Something else was occupying his attention. He was speaking to someone on a cellular phone, though he had not owned one before his disappearance.

"Hawk, just where are we going?" Pixie called, lagging behind at the moment.

He ignored her question, more interested in the conversation he was having on his cell phone.

The pair continued to walk, each step becoming more of a chore for Pixie, heading for the more industrial area of the city. The streets became darker, alleys more foreboding. The brick and mortar buildings and shops familiar to Pixie had been replaced by metallic buildings of some kind. To her knowledge, Pixie had never been down this far.

"We're here," Hawk stated, pushing open a creaky looking door carved into the entrance of one of the buildings.

_Pinch me, pinch me 'cause I'm still asleep__  
__Please God tell me that I'm still asleep_

The door led into what use to be a parking garage. The tiny entrance stations, once used to collect money from exiting cars and give tickets to entering cars, was vacant. The booths silent and cobwebbed.

There was an uphill climb ahead of the pair of young people. Hawk had taken Pixie's hand and was leading her up the hill when she planted her feet.

"Come on, Pixie Sticks," Hawk cajoled, "I thought you trusted me."

She tugged back on his hand, not really moving the slightly older boy. The cloak and dagger actions Hawk was undertaking were making Pixie uncomfortable. She had a strong feeling that he was taking her toward a situation she wasn't going to like. No matter what promise he had made to her, she wasn't keen on trusting his words.

"I don't like this, Hawk. Unless you tell me where we're going, I'm not moving," she protested trying to stand firm.

A tug on her hand showed that she was not as strong as she thought. Hawk dragged her up the hill not really noticing the wheezing and coughing coming from Pixie.

_On an evening such as this__  
__It's hard to tell if I exist__  
__If I pack the car and leave this town__  
__Who'll notice that I'm not around?_

Pixie leaned against a wall, eyes half open and hand against her chest, as Hawk banged on the door of what use to be the security office. The small window on the door, though dusty and grime streaked, was dark leaving Pixie to wonder just what Hawk was doing.

In the distance, seemingly out of place, a phone began to ring.

The door creaked open, the sound echoing along with the insistent ringing of the telephone

"What took you so long?" quipped the person standing in the rusted doorway.

Pixie, not seeing anything but shadows, looked up a bit, trying to find the source of the other voice. Much to her shock, in the doorway stood a darkly clad female. Almost a living shadow which sacred Pixie nearly to death. Not that the fall in that direction would have been a long one but that wasn't the point.

"Look, ain't my fault she's as sick as she is. Blame it on her," Hawk retorted, "She slowed me down."

_I could hide out under there__  
__I just made you say underwear__  
__I could leave, but I'll just stay__  
__All my stuff's here anyway_

Pixie felt the other person's eyes fall on her for the briefest of moments. She busied herself with looking at what could, possibly, be in the darkness surrounding them. Well, other than telephone that seemed to keep ringing.

"You're gone. Exit's already been set up for you," the other female said, coolly and far more calmly than Pixie was able to understand.

"I'm not going, Trinity," protested Hawk, "we're only taking her out because of me and I get to bring her in."

If looks were able to kill, then Hawk would have been dead on the spot. The woman appeared not to care what Hawk wanted to do. No matter how annoyed he was about it, he had to follow her orders.

Hawk glared at the woman, as if daring her to make him do what he was told. The staring contest continued for a few moments until Hawk relented. It seemed he was not able to stand being glared at for so long.

"Fine," he breathed, sounding annoyed.

As he darted off into the inky blankness that pervaded the rest of the old parking garage, he turned and called to Pixie, "Catch you on the other side."

_It's like a dream you try to remember but it's gone__  
__Then you try to scream, but it only comes out as a yawn__  
__When you try to see the world beyond your front door__  
__Take your time, cause the way I rhyme's gonna make you smile__  
__When you realize that a guy my size might take a while__  
__Just try to figure out what all this is for__  
__Try to figure out what all this is for__  
__Try to see the world beyond your front door__  
__Try to figure out what all this is for_

_(AN: I apologize for the super long chapter but I hope it's alright. I was very unsure of how this chapter was going to come off so let me know!)_


	14. Twas Brillig

AN: I'm probably in a better mood then I have any right to be! It's all because my midterms are over and I can spend one little weekend doing nothing other than reading (because, by choice, I will read anything that isn't tied down), watching movies, writing, and dancing (ballet and modern classes). I'm even getting the rare opportunity to play assistant teacher on Saturday at the studio where I dance. I say rare only because I've been there for nineteen years and I keep getting passed over when they pick assistant teachers. They pick people with fewer years than I have but who are excellent at sucking up to the studio's owner. Anywho, I wasn't doing anything but taking classes on Tuesday, and I avoid the studio's owner even when I have tap classes with her, when they asked me to take a spot for a Saturday. I'm also psyched because I got my copy of _Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith_ on Tuesday. Anywho, thanks for all the reviews for my little story. They made my week of studying better as they always seemed to come up when I was taking a break from the world of Molecular Biology. Please keep them coming!

AshleytheDragon: Oh….I'm sorry you didn't like the fact the song was sort of interjected into the chapter. I promise that there's only one more instance where that sort of song and chapter mix is going to come up but that's much later on in the game. I'm glad you liked the chapter otherwise, though. I can't say whether or not Pixie's going to meet Morpheus because it would wreck this chapter's events! Thanks for the little Agent diddy! It made me giggle!

Lyidia: I'm glad you liked the update and the appearance by Trinity. From here on out, more and more of the cannon characters will be getting involved in the story. I just hope I do the characters justice when I write them. Here's my next update, though!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Pixie watched Hawk disappear as a feeling of dread came over her. She had been left, more or less; at the mercy of a strange black clad person Hawk had called Trinity. A person who looked like she could well and truly end someone's life with just a glare. Not exactly someone Pixie wanted to be left all on her own with really….especially when she was tired and feeling, basically, extremely sick.

What Pixie really wanted was to take a break someplace, catch her breath and, maybe, get involved after that. It didn't seem like that was feasible as things seemed to be in motion. In motion and heading for a destination that she didn't quite know yet.

Pixie jumped a bit as she felt a hand come down on her shoulder, interrupting her musings on what she really wanted at the moment and how little she understood about what was going on.

"Come with me," Trinity told the young girl.

Pixie followed the person Hawk had called Trinity, trying to keep up and not get lost in the black recesses of the large complex. It was difficult for her to keep the other person in from of her, so well did Trinity blend in with the shadows cast in the building. It was like trying to follow a shadowy wraith through an inky, black cave. Virtually impossible unless one was either exceedingly lucky or had good eyesight. Since the latter wasn't the truth for Pixie, with her glasses and all, the former might have been the case. That, too, seemed unlikely because Pixie had never had much in the way of luck.

Either way, the last thing Pixie wanted to do was get lost. Getting out and back to the home seemed like too much work for her. Plus, she wasn't too sure how to even get back to the home. She had been too preoccupied with trying to keep herself breathing and walking to notice just how Hawk had gotten her to her current location.

"Where are we going?" Pixie asked, in a smallish voice.

Incurring the wrath of the other woman was not high on Pixie's things to do at the moment. She had seen her reaction to Hawk. Still, she wasn't comfortable with being left in the dark about what was happening to her. She was, after all, infamous, for asking the doctors all sorts of questions because, unlike some, she wanted to know exactly what was happening to her at any given time.

"Over there," the older woman answered, seemingly pointing some landmark out for Pixie to notice.

Sure enough, dead ahead of them was a pool of yellow light. There appeared to be objects in the pool but, at their current distance, Pixie could not make out what they were. All she could see were the vague shapes before her.

Deciding that the fewer questions the better, Pixie mutely followed the other woman to the fringes of the lightened area. She kept her eyes on her feet, afraid to make even the smallest bit of eye contact in case that bothered someone.

"Hawk, finally, brought her sir," Trinity informed someone Pixie hadn't noticed because her eyes were down.

Bringing her eyes back up from her feet, she spotted; stepping into the lighted area, quite possibly the largest man Pixie had ever seen. He was dark skinned and bald wearing a floor length black leather coat that was buttoned to the throat and had a high collar that came up to the chin. Hiding his eyes were round mirrored sunglasses.

His arms were clasped behind his back, making him seem quite streamlined which made him seem a whole lot taller. His expression was unreadable, seemingly on purpose really.

His sudden appearance made the young girl take a few steps back, as if trying to retreat back into the darkness. The hand on her shoulder, Trinity's she guessed, prevented her from doing so.

"Thank you, Trinity," the dark skinned man said, unclasping his hands from behind his back and placing one of his paw like hands on Pixie's shoulder.

The other woman disappeared back into the darkness, leaving Pixie with the mysterious man. Mystery seemed to the running theme at the moment, though. Everything and anything had taken on this cloak-and-dagger air about it, much to her chagrin.

"Please sit," the dark skinned man informed Pixie, his voice echoing slightly in the cavernous room.

For the first time, Pixie noticed the other things in the light displayed pool. There were two metal folding chairs, old and battered but still usable and a three legged table that was holding its balance somehow. On the table, much to Pixie's shock was a tall glass of water. Water that was clear and seemed to be fresh instead of dusty like everything else in the area.

She took the nearest chair, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her head on her knees. The dark skinned man sat in the opposite chair, removing a mirrored box and placing it on the table.

"Do you know who I am, Pixie?" he questioned, catching the young girl off guard.

Much to her surprise he knew her name. His identity though- as the shake of her head indicated- was a complete and utter mystery to her.

"Perhaps if I told you my name. I am Morpheus," the dark skinned man added, removing his mirrored lenses and looking Pixie in her own glass covered eyes.

Pixie's eyes went wide behind her thick lensed glasses. The name Morpheus was legendary; every hacker seemed to know a friend of a friend of a friend three times removed who had spoken with him. Some said he was the man to seek out of one wanted to get free from the trap the human race was stuck in. Others said he was just another figment the government created to throw everyone of course...to keep them busy as the truth was pulled further and further away.

"I've heard of you. You're a legend among hackers," Pixie said, sounding awed.

The man's facade slipped for a moment, features softening for an instant.

"I can assure you half the things I have been accused of doing I have not done," he stated.

"They say you're the man to find if you want to get out of this place," Pixie continued.

Morpheus gave the young girl a smile so sharp that it looked as if it could cut glass. Her statement, though unexpected, was steering the conversation right where he wanted it to go.

"Pixie, do you know the hacker's question?" Morpheus broached.

By rote, Pixie answered, "What is the matrix?"

Another razor smile, Cheshire cat like for she was unable to decipher its meaning, greeted Pixie.

"Your friend Hawk tells me you are quite fond of philosophy. Do you know Plato's Allegory of the Cave?" Morpheus questioned, taking an obvious hand in steering the conversation toward a desired goal.

Unaware of the steering, Pixie gave Morpheus a slight nod. It had been a allusion that one particular allegory that had started Pixie reading philosophy she could barely understand. The allusion had helped her to form the basis of her theories on the matrix.

"What if I told you that Plato was correct? That all of us were bound arms, legs and head and shown just shadows of the real world and most people of average intelligence would rather stay so bound instead of facing the truth?" Morpheus continued.

"I would say you were barking mad," Pixie, truthfully, answered.

"Your searching has shown us you are not of average intelligence, though, Pixie. You know there's something wrong with the world but you can not put your finger on it. That is why you keep going back to that allegory," Morpheus stated, seemingly oblivious to Pixie's answer.

"But there's no great cave to keep us all in. Last I checked, I'm not tied down to anything," Pixie countered.

A deep throated laugh from Morpheus threw her further off kilter.

"You are quite correct there but I never said that we were actually trapped in a cave. There is something far more evil at work here but it is a pity I can not simply tell you what that evil is. You must see it with your own eyes," Morpheus mused, taking the metallic box from the table.

He dumped the contents of the box in his large hands, preventing Pixie from seeing its contents. Something was moved from one hand to the next, the motion so fluid that it made Pixie do a double take.

"You take the blue pill," he intoned, opening his left hand to reveal a tiny blue colored capsule, "and you will remember none of this. It will be as if this meeting had never occurred."

"You take the red pill," he continued, right hand opening to show a small red capsule, "and I will show you the cave in which humanity is truly trapped."

From left to right and back again, Pixie's brandy brown eyes darted. She was torn between running off and telling the authorities about the crazed man she was talking to and believing his words.

"All I am offering you is the truth, if that is any comfort to you," Morpheus said to Pixie as if he was sensing the conflict she was having.

It was the word "truth" that did for Pixie. The truth she was facing, her demise to an illness she hadn't wanted, seemed to pale in comparison to the truth she was being offered.

"I'm going to die anyway," she mused, "might as well risk it."

She took the red pill out of Morpheus' right hand and washed it down with the water from the glass.

He gave her a Cheshire cat smile and said, "Follow me. There's little time."

His long strides had Pixie nearly jogging to keep up with him. All around her, the world began to take on a strange quality. For some odd reason, it seemed the walls were alive, shifting as they moved allowing a semi-lit corridor.

She followed Morpheus into a larger room, one that seemed to be taken up by a jungle of mechanical equipment whose purpose she could only guess. The other in the room, two female and two male, did not bother to look up when Morpheus entered with Pixie in tow. They were too engrossed in their work.

He gestured, vaguely, to an old office chair. Pixie assumed he had meant for her to sit in it.

On unsteady legs, she made her way over to the chair and sat down. The world still felt odd---unreal--- and that feeling appeared to be escalating.

"Take off your glasses," Trinity stated, coming over and affixing white nodes to Pixie's head and neck.

"But I won't be able to see then," she commented, protectively.

Her glasses were as much a part of her as her skin.

"It's alright. You won't need them," Trinity countered.

With a resigned sigh, Pixie removed her glasses and placed them in the other woman's hands. Her world, without the air of corrective lenses, became a messy blur which she shut her eyes against. Eyes that would never see in the same way again...as things started to get….very strange….for her.


	15. Another Brick in the Wall

AN: Hiya everyone! I'm back again for another installment of my little Matrix related misadventure! I hope everyone's enjoying the little ride that is going to get just a tad bit stranger since Pixie's found herself on the other side of the preverbal looking glass. New reality and all that would probably make things a bit strange anyway. By the way, just in case anyone is curious, neither Pixie nor Hawk are perspective Ones. For that matter, Wheeler- who has his own story- is not either. Just in case anyone was curious. Anywho, and as usual, thanks for the reviews! As I sit and wait for my grade for my molecular biology midterm (which I'm supposed to get sometime between now and the middle of December), your reviews are always a pleasant surprise and they make me smile. I never really expected to get any response to my little stories. I appreciate each and every review- Good, bad, and indifferent- I get!

Raijan son of Raiden: That's probably the best advice anyone could give Pixie! She really is in for one very strange ride! I promise Smith won't be appearing in the Real World. I had enough trouble writing him as Elrond! More coming up right now!

Lyidia: From here on out, cannon characters will be popping in and out along with some of my own characters. The cannon ones do help the story with its "Matrix-y" feel, though. I just hope I do them justice! I know the feeling too! I don't like being without my glasses. I even dance on stage with them because I don't like not having them on.

AshleytheDragon: LOL! My younger sister, who is totally not a fan of _The Matrix_ or anything not a romantic comedy, has a theory about taking both the red and the blue pill. She claims that your head pops off if you take both pills. Either that or you get the purple pill for acid reflux that she takes. Anywho, Pixie will be able to learn a few things, including how to read the Matrix code like an operator but that's later on in things. She's got a few other lessons to learn first. You really, seriously, made me laugh! I'm not kidding!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"I'm cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor  
Illusion never changed into something real  
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn"

(From "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia)

Images….that was all she could recall. Plain images so unreal they seemed more fiction than fact. It was all that floated through Pixie's head at the moment. Images that were clear and crystal and frightening. Blurry images that were out of focus, unclear and not useful to her at all. They showed nothing of what was around her.

After taking that red pill- the last truly coherent thing Pixie recalled- everything had gone a bit….wacky for the young girl. Things that couldn't possibly be real…a whole other world she had never seen before in all her days….flashed by her in a gut turning, head twisting blur of sights and sounds that badly myopic eyes could scarcely make out.

Her head swam; images falling out of order and breaking appear as she hit a metallic floor. It had to be metallic- like the gurneys at the hospitals without the mattresses on them- because of the way the cold bit at her skin. The bite of the cold also made the very confused and ill feeling Pixie aware of fact she was totally and utterly unclothed.

How she had gotten this way was beyond her, really, because she recalled getting dressed in the morning and being dressed when she met with Morpheus. At least that's what the confused young girl thought but now, it seemed, all of her thoughts were out of order. It hurt to think anyway so Pixie decided to stop doing that.

As a matter of fact, she was seriously considering giving up to the blackness that seemed to be beckoning her from the edges of her vision or what could creatively be called vision because Pixie couldn't really see two feet in front of her nose. That welcoming blackness that called to her…promising a release from the cold and from the sheer weirdness of the world around her from even a short time.

She felt two people lift her up and someone drape a rough cloth over her shoulders. Something had to be going on and Pixie wanted to know what that was. Her eyes tried to open past lids that she was sure were made of lead and to focus but Pixie found that everything hurt. Her entire body was sore for some reason.

A familiar face swam into view, coming close enough for her to be able to discern its somewhat familiar features. Apparently someone was aware of the fact her eyes were not exactly up to par at the moment.

"Welcome to the Real World," Morpheus told the little girl even as she gave up the fight with the darkness and slipped into a, probably, welcome unconsciousness.

The dark skinned captain watched as the two resident females- Trinity and Switch- on his crew carried Pixie off to the medical bay. Though it seemed out of place given the current situation, he tried to respect the propriety of the females on his ship. Their privacy, as much as he could give them, was respected because it was all he could offer them in the way of creature comforts.

Their utilitarian lifestyle allowed for little else sometimes.

That extended to the child they had just unplugged. They would see to it that she was properly cleaned and covered up before her rebuilding could begin. It wasn't much but it was the best he could do to show young Pixie some respect.

Euchro was correct when he had said unplugging Pixie would be a risk. The pill had taken affect almost right away and the transition had caused her failing heart to work too quickly, nearly killing the child. The reaction had been so violent that he wasn't sure how they had gotten her out in one piece. It was rare for people to pass during their unplugging but it happened.

She had pulled through, though. That, in and of itself, spoke volumes about just how much the little girl wanted to keep herself alive. She might not have been the person destined to save Zion but the little girl had some will to live. If she could make it through her probably extensive rebuilding- the necessary evil of falling down the rabbit hole combined with the fact she had come out looking just as badly as she did when in the Matrix- Pixie would do well.

Morpheus shook himself free from his musings and addressed the person standing just off his left shoulder, "Cypher, go and tell Tank to release Hawk. I believe it is safe for everyone to have Hawk loose."

The other rebel nodded, going back to the ship's core to get the, most likely, angry young man.

Morpheus had ordered Hawk, after his exit, to be kept strapped down in the core. His presence in the hold would have done more harm than good. He knew that Hawk would be more interested in seeing a naked female, since he was an average teenage male. There were things that changed when stepping through the looking glass but that fact was certainly not one of them.

Living in Zion and watching Zion born teenagers interact was enough to tell him that.

The captain fervently hoped his other male crew members were slightly more objective in their view. She was a newly freed denizen on the Real World...one who just happened to be female. Not something to be ogled or whispered about….not in her current state anyway.

Hooked up to more monitors than humanly necessary, monitors reading everything from her genetic code to her heart rate, a stark white- pale to the point of being almost inhuman- figure lay on a metallic table. All over her figure were what looked to be fine porcupine spines or acupuncture needles.

Either way, they were all over her body, save her face. That part, where her eyes, nose, and mouth sat, was cleared from any needles. That was unusual but the turn from the usual was a necessary evil in this case. Due to whatever the Matrix had done to the young girl, her muscles were wasted to nearly the point of disuse. Most likely the physical manifestation of the disease she had been dying of in the Matrix.

"We're going to have to use the blinders to repair the damage to her eye muscles," stated Dozer, a large male on par with Morpheus in size.

"I know," Morpheus commented, placing a probe deeply into Pixie's abdomen.

Since being brought on board, the young girl had shown no signs of life. Sure the monitors showed she was breathing and her brain was working properly but that was about it. She had yet to move or speak to anyone on the crew. Pixie just lay there like a pale, lifeless, hairless doll.

The dark skinned captain walked over to a metallic unit on the wall and removed to monstrous objects. They were fraught with wires leads coming from them and were a lacquered black in color. The machine wasn't used all that often because eye muscle damage was fairly uncommon.

He walked over to the head of the table, hooking the leads into what appeared to be some kind of power unit with some audible clicks and other working sounds as the machine hummed to life and lowering them over the eyes of Pixie.

Suddenly, two brandy brown eyes snapped open, trying to take in everything within their limited line of sight. The only thing closely enough in focus were the two objects dangerously close to her eyes.

Pixie, unsure of what was happening and more than a little afraid began to thrash about. She was not strong enough to escape by any means by her fight or flight response had kicked in, sending a shot of adrenaline through her system and causing the monitors on the walls to go ape.

"Pixie stop….you're going to hurt yourself," Morpheus stated, trying to get Pixie to stop moving.

The other medic, slowly but surely, made his way over to a large drawer, just in case a tranquilizer was needed. If she continued to behave the way she was, Pixie could do more harm than she really meant to do to herself. If that was the case, it was best to calm her down by artificial means just until the procedures were over with.

"Stop, Pixie Sticks, he knows what he's talking about," came a voice that was eerily familiar to the girl.

The voice's owner darted over to the side of the table, leaning in close enough to allow Pixie's to see who it was.

"Hawk," she croaked, recognizing both face and voice.

"You have to stop moving, otherwise you're going to get hurt," he warned Pixie.

She calmed down only slightly, monitors picking up the change. One of her hands moved uselessly at her side, like a fish flopping out of the water.

Dozer drew Hawk's attention to the hand, nudging the younger boy with his shoulder.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Hawk quipped, sounding more than a little annoyed.

"Hold her hand," the older crew member answered, nearly placing Hawk's hand in Pixie's.

Abruptly, the motion stopped and Pixie calmed down totally. With a connection to a familiar presence made, she shut her eyes which allowed Morpheus to place to blinders over her eyes.

"You are not to move from there until we remove these. I do not want her ripping out any of the deeper probes," Morpheus ordered Hawk.

With a resigned sigh, the young male sat down in for a very long few days. At least, though, his friend had made the right choice and gotten out. Since he was out before her, there was the strong chance Pixie might rely on him for help….a chance Hawk was more than a little willing to take.


	16. Stairway to Heaven

AN: Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends! Alright, it does have an end, actually but you get the idea! Here's another installment of the little misadventure of a girl who use to wear glasses, her friend named after a bird, and a Texan pitcher (which will be explained later). I hope everyone's having a good time on the ride and I hope that I am doing justice to the already existing cannon characters. That was half the reason I was so reluctant to post this story. I was afraid I was going to make a mess of the cannon characters. I'm trying my best to keep them in character nearly all of the time so please let me know if I'm doing them justice. As always, thanks so much for the reviews! I greatly appreciate them and keep them coming! You guys rock like a box of socks!

Ashley the Dragon: LOL….I'm also one of those people who wears glasses all the time. I'm quite attached to mine and refuse to take them off, even when I have to dance on stage. The people I dance with don't take too kindly to that fact because I'm the only one in my class who wears them. Makes me stand out like a sore thumb on stage. I'm glad you liked the chapter and you liked Hawk's little way of helping Pixie. As for romance, this story is actually my first attempt at writing anything with any romance elements. There's going to be an awkward sort of romance type thing in the story between a few characters in the story but I'm not saying anything just yet because that would spoil it! I'll give one hint, though…people grow up and people grow away from each other but, at the same time, people can grow closer. Pixie doesn't have any "Neo-like" powers but she's got a few things about her that make her a little on the strange side. If you look at some of the stuff she was good at before she got out, some of the ground works already there. I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"We don't need no thought control…"

(From Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall")

A hand reached out, trying to pull coke bottle glasses off of a familiar bedside table. The motion had been some so many times, out of learned necessity, that she didn't have to think about doing it. The result was always the same; hands finding glasses and placing them over her eyes so she could see the rest of the day.

It was one of those by rote things someone did when something became a huge part of their life. After all, not wearing glasses meant the day was going to be quite annoying. After all, not being able to see was not something conductive to anything else that might happen to an individual during the day.

Pixie's eyes snapped open when her hand found cold grated metal, instead of the familiar table with its familiar glasses. This was something strange to her, something highly unexpected.

Opening her brandy brown eyes, Pixie found she was no longer in the room she had known for most of her young life. Gone was her familiar bed and nightstand. Her computer was no where to be found. The floors weren't like the ones at home and the walls were a far cry from her norm as well.

Instead, Pixie found herself staring at what appeared to be walls that looked like something out of a futuristic submarine. Everything was metal and sort of stark looking. There was nothing really comforting and homey about where Pixie found herself.

Taking a closer look, the young girl found a rough gray blanked covered a form she had not seen in a very long time. Replacing her fluid filled extremities and abdomen, was the thin, wiry build she had most of her life. It was how she looked before she'd gotten really ill, before her heart started to fail on her.

Something had changed and it wasn't just her surroundings. Hitting her like a ton of bricks was something else that had changed. One of those major things that realization seemed to defy until it hit up upside the head.

"Wait a second, I can see," Pixie mused, marveling at the fact the world around her was sharply in focus without her thick glasses.

She could not recall a time before having thick glasses...a time when she could see and act like other kids. She'd always had her thick spectacles, even during the sketchy time before she'd gone to live in the home. Glasses were just part of her normal life and now, it seemed, something had happened and she didn't need them anymore.

Part of her missed them for a moment before another strange something caught her attention. This was a new thing that was far stranger than her lack of glasses.

Glancing down, Pixie noticed a strange looking IV line running out of what appeared to be a black plug stuck in her arm. An arm that was covered by a frayed gray sweater that was too big on her. The latter fact really didn't register in Pixie's mind. Instead, the young girl was more interested in the IV line, the black plug and getting the IV line out.

In all her time in and out of hospitals, she had pulled out her fair share of IV lines. Mostly because Pixie hadn't ever liked needles and all IVs were to her were glorified needles. Needles weren't meant to stay in someone's arm so Pixie figured she had to remove them.

Gritting her teeth against the stinging sensation and steeling herself against the trickle of blood she knew came part and parcel; Pixie pulled the IV line out of her arm. It came out with only a small amount of resistance which wasn't surprising to her.

Much to her surprise, though, all Pixie received was the sound of metal scraping against metal.

Pixie reached a hand up to run a hand through her hair- a nervous habit most with long hair had and one Pixie wasn't prone to- but found rough stubble against her palm. Last she checked she had very long, brown-black hair and she knew she would have remembered shaving it all off. That wasn't something one did without remembering it, after all.

Plus her hair had been quite long and shaving it off wouldn't exactly be an easy or fun task.

Her hands continued their exploration of her skull- part of her hoping in some strange way that it was only the top of her head that had been shaved- as her eyes roved over her arms. The black plug in her arm had its twin and, several brothers and sisters; it seemed on both her arms. Part of Pixie figured they were probably on other parts of her body. That made sense to her in a strange sort of way because putting plugs on only her arms didn't seem to make any good sense.

It seemed her thinking was correct has the fingers on her right hand found something metallic feeling on the back of her head, near the base of her skull. The location of which could be correlated to the part of the brain where all the sensory input came into and out of her brain. It was also the part of the brain associated with precise coordinated timing of the smooth skeletal muscles…the involuntary muscles she had no physical control over.

Pixie was fighting to keep panic from overtaking her and was loosing the battle when a door creaked open. The figure in the doorway was huge, nearly taking up all the room. It cast a large shadow into the small room Pixie had found herself in and forced the girl to step back to be able to see a face.

Around it, though, peered a familiar face. One that was more on her eye level and was one of those faces that, no matter what the circumstances were, she would always know. It was a face of a friend and that was what Pixie figured she needed at the moment.

"Good to see you're awake, Pixie Sticks," Hawk said, worming his way into the room and sitting down on the low cot next to Pixie with one of those huge, cheesy smiles on his face.

The young girl swung her legs over the side of the bed, noting for the first time she wore rough black pants and heavy black boots on her legs. Since she didn't remember putting on such clothes, Pixie assumed someone had to have dressed her. Hopefully that someone wasn't Hawk but that wasn't here or there at the moment.

"I'm confused," she said, reality coming unglued and confusion seeping into her voice as she directed the comment to Hawk and to the figure she recognized as the large, dark specter of Morpheus.

"And bald," Hawk, none to helpfully pointed out.

She looked over to Morpheus, the figuring he was older and probably knew better than Hawk, questions in her eyes. Somewhere in her addled mind she recalled being told that Morpheus had all the answers one could ever want about the nature of reality.

The dark skinned captain gave the young girl, a child really, a slight smile. The confusion was an obvious side effect of the unplugging process. After all, it was truly a drastic change from the false reality to the Real World in all respects.

"Come with me," Morpheus intoned, gesturing for Hawk and Pixie to follow him, "there are better ways of explaining things than just sitting here and my explaining it to you. Some things are better seen than spoken about and it will make things easier for someone like you Pixie."

As they walked through hallways that seemed to be made of rusty metal-Pixie lagging a bit back as she tried to take everything in with her new eyesight since she was still really amazed by her lack of needing glasses-Morpheus explained, "It is not whatever year you once believed it to be…It is far in the future. Too far, perhaps, for a young child like you to understand. You are, currently, on my ship- Think of her as a cross between a hovercraft and a submarine. -called the _Nebuchadnezzar_. It is on this ship we hack into the computer system known as the Matrix."

Pixie blinked a handful of times as she tried to digest the information she had just learned. Her world had just been set on its ear but, the fact they were still climbing, indicated that Morpheus' explanation was just the beginning. She'd always been good with taking in information, storing it, and asking questions later. The young girl figured she should do that now…listen to what Morpheus was saying and ask questions when he was done.

Patience was a virtue, after all.

Up a ladder she climbed, moving far faster then she had in years. That in and of itself amazed Pixie because she hadn't been able to walk up short flights of stairs without getting winded only a short time- or what seemed like a short time- ago. Their final location appeared to be a wide room, the likes of which Pixie had never seen before.

Monitors, all seemingly displaying the same image, were arranged around some type of console. Further away, a few feet, was a ring of chairs hanging suspended from the ceiling. Next to each chair, hanging in the same way as the chairs they were next to, was some type of computer console. Those screens were dark at the moment.

As her eyes swept the room, growing wider and wider with each passing moment, she saw that they were not alone. Standing off in groups of twos and threes were other figures, dressed in the same shabby fashion.

"This is the core where we broadcast our hacked signals into the Matrix," Morpheus indicated, making an expansive gesture, "and this is my crew."

Pixie tried to follow the running tally Morpheus was giving. Sitting at the console was someone named Tank. His older brother Dozer worked on the wires behind the console. Shooting daggers at Hawk was a white haired woman called Switch. She stood with a man called Apoc, whose name rang some bell for Pixie. Standing closest to the strange chairs was the only other person Pixie recognized from her meeting with Morpheus; Trinity. Lurking near there was a bald man called Cypher.

It was all getting a bit much for the young girl to digest but she was trying her best to keep up with everything. All she had learned from the dark skinned man was started to tangle and twist in her brain. Making knots and giving her the start of a rip roaring headache.

Still, it seemed that there was more for her to learn and Pixie was more than willing to keep on learning.

"Do you want to know what the truth is Pixie?" Morpheus asked, almost gently as if trying not to frighten the already confused child.

Pixie gave a slight nod, her mind working on overdrive to file away what she had just leaned. The questions she had were far from being answered. In actuality, more questions were cropping up. Definitely not a good thing in the least.

She found herself being led to one of the hanging chairs. She climbed into the chair sitting up as she assumed she was supposed to. It was a chair after all. All be it a futuristic one, though...

As soon as the heavy bar came down across her feet, Pixie panicked. She, suddenly, became uncomfortable with the situation she had found herself in. What in the world were restrains for when all she wanted to do was learn the truth?

"Let me up! I changed my mind! I don't want to know the truth! I don't want to do this anymore!" she protested, struggling to get up and nearly falling out of the chair as her strapped in feet made her unable to move anywhere at all.

Hawk darted over, boots banging on the metal floor. The young boy, older than Pixie in both years and his time in this new world, had decided that it was his responsibility to keep an eye on her. Be her teacher and all that because he knew what was going on and she didn't.

Plus, it seemed to be the only way to keep the status quo from the Matrix. The one where she relied on him for knowledge and things like that.

"It's ok, Pixie," he soothed, "they did this to me and I survived."

"Just barley," Trinity bit, low enough so Hawk wouldn't hear but Pixie caught the comment and that made her even more afraid.

Pixie stopped fighting, since it wasn't getting her anywhere, but wasn't all that keen on trusting Hawk's words. Outwardly, she looked ever so calm and collected but, inside, she was shaking like a leaf. She started to shiver, slightly, as her inward fear was outwardly manifesting itself.

"You found the jack on the back of your head, of course," Morpheus said, softly, "the truth lies within that plug."

He placed a large hand just below Pixie's ribs and, carefully, pushed her down so that she was laying flat against the chair. Her head came to rest in a large open portion of the chair.

"Don't be afraid. Just relax," Morpheus intoned as he came around to the back of the chair.

Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, Pixie's world went dark...


	17. Clocks

AN: Hey everyone! Happy Early Thanksgiving (just in case I don't update before then)! I'm psyched my professor cancelled class on Wednesday so I have two days of school this week. The only bad thing is that I only have one day of dancing this week. Speaking of dancing, it's that time of year again where us poor dancers find out what we're doing in the studio's show this year. It's a big deal because it's the studio's Fiftieth Anniversary so a lot of the former teacher and dancers are coming. This year, we're doing Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" in modern, a piece from Dvorak's "New World Symphony" in ballet, a tribute to the 1970s in jazz, and two compilation dances in tap using pieces from some of the more popular tap dances from the last fifty years. In my private, they have me doing "Don't Cry for me Argentina" from Evita. I'm not thrilled about it because I've done something from Evita twice before but my ballet teacher picked out a really pretty costume for me so I guess it's alright. Anywho, thanks for all the wicked cool reviews. Keep them coming as they're a really big surprise for me! You guys rock like a box of socks!

Lyidia: I know that feeling. I took my glasses off once in Organic Chemistry lab, because I needed clean them (they got all foggy from the goggles we had to wear), and I put them down on the table for a second. Then I went to fix my glasses on my face. Thing was, they were on the lab table! Anywho, I'm glad you liked the last two chapters and I hope you like this one just as much!

Ashley the Dragon: LOL….yeah, the Merovingian is quite a bit on the pervy side and Smith was funny in that movie. I had one professor who said all of us want to be like Agent Smith and make multiple copies of ourselves like he does. Personally, I liked the scene where Neo fights Seraph in the tea house best. As for the romance part of the story, it's a bit on the strange side. Sort of like a strange triangle where two people like Pixie in different ways but the two people totally dislike each other. Not going to say much more than that because I don't want to spoil it. It will all be revealed in time. Well, I hope you enjoy this next bit of Pixie's misadventures in the Real World.

Raijan: The only reason Pixie is sort of freaked out because she's bald is because she had rather long hair in the Matrix. Don't worry, though, like everyone else, her hair will grow back. Now how she's going to keep her hair now that she has a plug in her head….well, that's the subject of a great debate.

insaneillogicalicedemon: Well, technically, there's only one person in this entire story who actually broke any sort of rule in the Matrix. Who that is will be revealed later but I can assure you it wasn't Pixie or Hawk. I'm updating now and I hope you like this update as much as the others!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

There was just endless white, an expanse reaching far beyond Pixie's suddenly repaired eyesight. It was a featureless space, nothing to distinguish location. It seemed to go on forever in all directions, blankness so absolute that Pixie wasn't even sure it could be real. No such place could ever exist anywhere the young girl could think of. It was like stepping into the vastness of space, if space was bright, almost painfully white, and had breathable air.

Fear hit Pixie like an iron ball, as a very unnerving thought crossed her mind.

What if she got lost in this endless white area and no one could find her again?

It was enough that Pixie wasn't even sure of what she was doing in the blank, white space. Hadn't Morpheus promised her the truth? If the truth was here, Pixie couldn't puzzle out where. After all, with her feet rooted to the spot she was standing in, lest she get lost, how was one supposed to find the truth in a completely empty room.

"Welcome," came a deep voice from behind her, causing Pixie to jump ever so slightly, "to the Construct."

Pixie turned on her heel, her heart racing from the startling she had just received, coming to face the tall man she knew was called Morpheus. But it wasn't the Morpheus she had spoken with on the _Nebuchadnezzar_. The tall, dark skinned captain looked different, more like the Morpheus she had spoken with however long ago. He wasn't dressed in the careworn clothes she remembered seeing him in on the submarine like craft she had woken up in. Rather, Morpheus was dressed in a dark suit of deep plum with a matching dress shirt of the same shade. To break up the monotony of it all, he had on a pale green tie.

Looking down Pixie realized she, too, was different. She wore too big denim coveralls and a long sleeved green t-shirt, the comfortable clothing she favored from the Matrix. Her hair had returned, braided down her back, and further confusing the young girl because she recalled being as bald as a bald person could be.

"I look different," Pixie pointed out, sounding stunned and wearing an expression that bellied her feelings at the moment.

"What you are seeing is called your Residual Self Image. This the image the Matrix ascribes to your mind," Morpheus explained, trying to keep the slight shock out of his voice, "This is the image you would see if you were to look into a mirror in the Matrix, if you prefer to think of it that way."

Though he had been free from the Matrix for some time, the Matrix never ceased to amaze the dark skinned captain. It had the ability to throw curve balls at even the most seasoned of veterans.

The child standing before him, the RSI more appropriately, was not what he was expecting in the least. Standing before him, baffled expression on her face was a wiry thin, healthy looking female. He had been half expecting the sickly child they had rescued to reappear.

It was probably better that Pixie appeared as her healthier self, rather than the sickly form he had first seen her in. It gave her more options for the future, such as it was for her. Perhaps this was the image that Pixie was meant to have in the first place, if not for the mysterious illness that was draining her life.

Like a tiny shadow, Pixie followed the dark skinned captain across the "floor" of the white space. Sitting in its midst, unnoticed by Pixie upon her arrival, was a set of battered chairs, akin to the ones found in the old parking garage, a small table and an old fashioned television. How she had missed them was beyond her but that was the least of Pixie's concerns. There were bigger things on her mind at the moment, like how her hair had grown back or why everything in this place seemed just a little bit different from the world she had left.

She took a seat, watching Morpheus take one before her, trying to decipher just where they were. Pixie pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. It was a comfortable position for her and that helped her think. After all, with a familiar something in an unfamiliar place, Pixie found her thoughts more able to flow through her busy mind.

An idea came to her as she rested her head against the tops of her demin clad knees. One so strange, so mad, so weird that she was ready to throw it away as fiction. Then again, given the current situation, the nature of the world she had just woken up in, her explanation wasn't so odd.

Maybe, just maybe, odd was the path she had to take. There was that old saying she had heard once anyway…that the truth was stranger than fiction.

"We're in a computer, aren't we? You plugged me into something through the thing in the back of my head, didn't you?" she brought up, words tumbling out of her mouth as she tried to get her thoughts into something akin to a streamlined pattern.

Morpheus gave her a razor thin smile. Hawk had said she was good with puzzles, with catching on to things quickly. He was glad to see that cleverness had passed into the Real World with Pixie since it seemed to be a big part of herself in the Matrix

"You are correct," he assured her, "This is our program we use to do everything from training ourselves to fight to letting off some steam if time allows. Within this space, we can load anything and everything we need. That includes the clothing you and I are wearing at the moment."

"But how?" Pixie questioned, "That's not possible. People can't do that and computers aren't that advanced."

"In much the same way the Matrix fed you information. Every sensation you ever thought you experienced, from the feeling of the wind on your skin to what you thought you ate, was the matrix causing neurons to fire across synapses. None of those experiences were real. Through the large plug in your head and the ones over your body, Pixie, the Matrix told you what you were seeing, hearing, and feeling," Morpheus stated.

"So, I was never going to die," Pixie mumbled, almost, to herself.

Sadly, Morpheus shook his head. That was the one thing he assumed was true. The only sensation the Matrix faked that was really and truly felt by the body resting in its pod in the Real World's power plant.

"If there was any real experience you had, Pixie, the fact your dying was it. As you fought against all the imperfections the matrix decided to bestow on you, you gave the machines what they needed most," he corrected, "You were knocking on death's door, Pixie, but I think you don't need to worry about that any more. The machines no longer control you or your fate."

Unabashedly, Pixie stared at the dark skinned man. Never before, as far as she could recall, were machines mentioned in any equation. She hadn't a clue what Morpheus was talking about, unless she missed something. Perhaps a moment's inattention where her mind wandered off to consider other things saw her missing this reference to machines.

"What machines?" she asked, feeling stupid because she was diving deeper under the waters of confusion.

"Allow me to explain," Morpheus stated, turning the forgotten television on with the remote from the table.

With a muted click, the television came to life. Almost instantly, Pixie recognized the image on the screen. Coming in from the sky and heading down into the metal and stone canyons was the image of the city she and Hawk had once occupied. It stopped here and there showing her the school she had attended when she was well enough and the home in which she lived.

"This is the world you once thought you lived in, the familiar streets you once thought you walked down. I am sorry to tell you this world does not exist anymore. Not in reality in any case. It is all a product of the computer system known to us as the Matrix. This is what your world looks like now," Morpheus explained, pressing a button on the remote.

The channel changed with the smallest of clicks.

Gone was the city Pixie had once thought she knew. It had been replaced by a barren wasteland. Rock formations sitting under a roiling black mess that was once the bright blues of the sky. Total and utter destruction that Pixie had not assumed was ever possible.

"What is this place?" she asked her voice small and shocked, "What happened here?"

With the skill of a master storyteller, Morpheus told Pixie of the creation of AI and the subsequent war with the human race. He told her how the human race, in their infinite intelligence, decided to raze the sky in order to cripple the solar powered machines. With a self-depreciating chuckle, he spoke of how the machines turned to humans, coupled with a form of fusion, as a source of power which lead to the communal dream world of the matrix. The very same dream world she had woken up from. He told her of the One, and how he started the grand tradition of waking people up, showing the truth, and bringing them to the Real World and how the return of this man would mark the liberation of the human race.

"What happens to me now?" Pixie asked her head spinning with all the information she had just learned.

It was a feeling akin to her going back to school after one of her extended absences. There was just so much to be learned, so much to be absorbed into her mind. Combined with the thoughts that were flitting through her head, Pixie was fairly reeling with everything she had learned in one sitting.

There was no chance of her making any sense out of any of it now. It would take time for her to be able to understand everything but that seemed logical for some odd reason.

Still, she wanted to know what was to become of her. After being pulled out of a false world and brought into a place she was now being told was the Real World, Pixie wasn't sure what was going to happen to her. That much she really wanted to know.

"You're free from the Matrix, Pixie. The machines no longer control what you see, hear, and feel. Everything from when you awoke today will be genuine. With a little training, you can follow what ever path you find laid down before your feet. You have a future where one was being denied to you," Morpheus informed the young girl, knowing what the last part of his statement was going to make Pixie quite happy.

Into the white expanse, before Pixie could say anything more, Morpheus called, "Get us out of here, Link."


	18. Vertigo

AN: Well, I hope everyone's had a good Thanksgiving, or just a good break from whatever it is they were doing. Breaks are really subjective when you have to help your sister with her homework and she's got a boatload of it. Though I did manage to get in some quality reading time, despite the fact I had to help my sister with her homework. Well, there was also me having to help out with the latest misadventure in my Scout troop. We're taking the kiddies to see _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ the night it opens. Speaking of movies, I saw _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ on the night it opened! It was craziness in the theater but it was an excellent movie (especially the dragons!). Though, the book was better but that's nearly always the case! Anywho, thanks for the reviews! I really do appreciate them and please keep them coming. I'll try to respond to all of them with this new reply button policy thing! I'm always happy to hear what your guys think of Pixie's little misadventure through the Matrix and the Real World.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

The first thing Pixie became aware of, as she left the white space Morpheus had called "the Construct" and returned to wherever she was supposed to be, was how nauseous she was feeling. Her stomach was flopping about inside her like some sort of living creature and her head throbbed like it had never had when she was ill in the Matrix.

Someone was behind her, uncoupling her head from the computer, but Pixie dared not crane her head around to see. She figured, if she did, she'd wind up getting sick there and then. Something Pixie was not entirely fond of doing.

"Nice ride?" Hawk questioned, pulling Pixie to her feet and escalating the ill feeling that was washing over her.

She made a small sound in the back of her throat and allowed Hawk to help her stand. Her equilibrium was shot to pieces, preventing her from standing on her own. The young girl wasn't even sure she could stand on her own, much less walk. Whatever she had just been put through had done something odd to her, unsettling her stomach.

She felt like she'd been put through the worst carnival ride in the Matrix. One of those rides that spun, twisted, twirled, and whirled until the riders were too sick to even stand. Not that she'd ever been on one of those rides but she figured the feeling was about the same.

She tried to steady herself but found she lacked the ability to do so. Instead, and much to her chagrin, Pixie found she had to lean on Hawk for support. Not something she'd normally do but, given the circumstances, Pixie decided that was the only option she had. The best she could do was try not to look at Hawk as his donned a wide and, obviously, ecstatic grin.

"Can I go back to my room?" Pixie asked, in a meekish short of voice.

"I'll make sure she gets there," Hawk volunteered with a sly grin on his face.

Trinity, acting in place of Morpheus who was in the process of getting unhooked from his own machine, gave Hawk the good once over. His intentions were plainly written all over his face. In the Matrix and in the Real World, teenaged boys never changed their tune. Especially ones who already had crushes on the person standing next to them. At least, to her and the others on the crew, it looked like a crush.

The look on Pixie's face said a lot more. She was trying to hold herself together, trying to delay the normal reaction to the introduction to the Construct. It was a tough front to maintain and not the most intelligent of things to attempt to keep up, all things considered. Still, credit had to be given for her trying.

No matter how young the mind was, a certain sort of nausea and dizziness was the normal reaction to plugging back in for the first time. Most people got sick as their equilibrium adjusted to the change from the false reality of the Construct to the Real World the first time through. It got better as it was done more often….the body adjusted and adapted to it.

"There and back. In under five minutes. Any more than that and I personally hunt you down," Trinity warned.

Hawk glared and proceeded to walk, painfully slowly, with Pixie down to her room. He was doing it to annoy people while Pixie had no real choice. She was just trying not to get sick.

Her feet were dragging as she tried to keep the nauseous feeling washing over her at bay but, it just wasn't working. The last thing Pixie wanted was to get sick in front of Hawk. Some dignity had to be maintained, after all. It was bad enough she was leaning heavily on him to help her walk.

Actually, she had never liked getting sick in front of other people...or she had though she hadn't liked getting sick in front of other. The idea that the reality she had grown up with was fake wasn't helping the feeling. In fact, it might have been making it worse. It was a thought that was too confusing for her dizzy head to deal with no matter how much truth she knew Morpheus' words held.

"Is there like a bathroom around here or something?" Pixie asked, with every intention of getting sick on her own.

Hawk pushed a heavy metal door open, gesturing for Pixie to go in there. As the door shut behind her, Hawk slumped to the floor and began to pull loose threads from his sleeves.

More than five minutes had passed, even if there was no clock to tell if that was true or not, and Hawk had not returned to the core as ordered. Morpheus had gone back into the Construct for a bit of sparring with Cyper and Switch, leaving Trinity and the remaining members of the _Nebuchadnezzar_'s to wait for Hawk's return.

"I told him her room and back. Where is he?" Trinity mused, out loud and sounding none to pleased with the young boy.

"The girl did look a little green around the gills. Maybe he's taking his time," brought up Apoc.

"Tank, go find Hawk and drag him back up here. No matter what he's doing," Trinity ordered the operator as he was not occupied at the moment.

The younger of the ship's two operators, nodded his acceptance of the order and headed off in search of the recently unplugged girl and Hawk. Walking down the halls, calling for either Hawk or Pixie, Tank tried to locate the pair of young people. Eventually, and after what seemed to be an inhuman amount of time, he found Hawk sitting on the floor, looking thoroughly annoyed at his current situation.

"Where's Pixie?" Tank questioned, looking around and not seeing the other child.

"In there," Hawk asked, jerking a thumb towards the door off his shoulder, "been in there a while actually."

"And you didn't think to check on her?" the older male asked.

"Well, you know," Hawk countered, shrugging absentmindedly.

He had, for all of a moment, thought of checking on Pixie but that thought quickly passed. It would have required him to get up and actually go into the room. He figured she was just doing whatever girls did...that always seemed to take a lot of time back where he use to live.

The same had to go for here, Hawk decided.

"I gotcha. I'll be back," Tank said, understanding Hawk's train of thought.

The younger operator disappeared, only to return a few moments later with Trinity in tow, only because she was the only female available to do what needed to be done. She wore a rather annoyed expression, feeling that Hawk was causing trouble just for the fun of it.

She banged on the door a handful of times, not receiving a response at any point to her banging. Since that was probably not a good sign, Trinity opened the door to the room, carefully, taking in the site before her.

"Tank, go up to the core and tell Dozer to leave Apoc monitoring the others. He needs to get down to the med bay, now. We have a situation," she called over her shoulder.

A pair of boots, running, filled the hall. The sound was followed by a second pair of boots, almost creeping along the metal catwalk. Though the metal was cold and unforgiving if one fell on it, it had its uses at a time like that.

"You're helping me, Hawk. Don't you dare think of sneaking off. Get in here," Trinity called.

Hawk crept in, eyes widening when he saw the state his friend was in. Pixie had, apparently, gotten violently sick and, somehow, managed to hit her head on something in the room. Blood was pooled around her head and matted in the bristly hair she had on her head.

"Didn't you hear that everyone gets sick when they first come out of the Construct? Do you think it's funny not to pay attention?" she lectured.

"I figured she was going to like sleep it off or something. She's use to it, she use to get sick all the time," Hawk said nonchalantly, "I figured she could just, like, not get sick or something."

"She wasn't going to sleep it off. Now get over here," Trinity ordered.

After some infinite time, Pixie opened her eyes. The young girl found the experience far more painful than it had been earlier on in the day. Well, what she assumed was earlier on in the day. Her sense of time and place seemed to be a bit off.

Alright, everything seemed a bit off but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

"What happened?" she moaned, trying to sit up and finding her head was swimming and felt as if it weight a good ton or more.

Still she was determined and managed to get herself into a relative sitting position. Pixie figured that had to be an accomplishment of some type. A minor one but still an accomplishment.

"You got sick and hit your head pretty hard," Hawk, who had been sitting near the side of her bed, informed Pixie.

The young boy, after failing to get her back to her room in one piece, had been tasked with keeping an eye on her until she woke up. It seemed a simple enough task, all things considered, and one Hawk wasn't likely to foul up.

She squinted in the dim light as the familiar feeling of a headache sprang up in her head. A slight smile crossed her face, fleeing as quickly as it appeared. At least something's were still the same...

"That explains the headache," she quipped, trying to make a joke.

Hawk gave her a wan smile and took her hand in his. He placed the tips of her fingers to a spot just above her right ear. Pixie ran her fingers along the indicated spot, feeling a length of stitches running from the top of her right temple, arcing over her ear, and terminating just above her ear lobe. The scant hair she had appeared to have been shorn away to make room for the stitches.

"Lost a little blood but learned a lot of information," Pixie, blearily, replied.

The wooziness, the head swimming sensation, was as far as she could figure, a result of the blood loss. It was a sensation she had experience, more correctly thought she had experienced, while living in the Matrix.

"A little blood?" Hawk quipped, making a very sour face, "what I saw didn't qualify as a little bit of blood."

Pixie would have laughed if she hadn't figured the laugh would cause her brain to pound out of her ears. While in the Matrix, she had been the one to, basically, teach Hawk their science lessons. Blood and things of that nature, she recalled dimly, had made him very squeamish.

She yawned, widely; jaw looking like it had come unhinged. A sudden feeling of exhaustion had come over her.

"Is it ok if I go to sleep?" she questioned, remembering something she had heard about head injuries in the Matrix and having to stay up several hours after sustaining one.

Hawk shrugged and answered, "They gave you some pretty heavy duty stuff to counteract the head injury. I think you're supposed to sleep it off."

She lowered herself into the ratty cot, pulling the threadbare blanket up to her throat. There was no doubt abut the fact the ship, or whatever it was, was freezing cold.

"Night Hawk," she mumbled, teetering on the edge of sleep.

"Catch you later, Pixie Sticks," Hawk called, as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

As he wandered away, heading to his own assigned room, Hawk decided he had Pixie right where he wanted her. She was confused and injured, vulnerable enough for him to move in on her. The guard she had kept up for so long, the one he knew was hiding her true feelings for him, had come down and he was going to take advantage of that. Whether she liked it or not...well, that wasn't her choice.


	19. Keeping the Faith

AN: Hi everyone! Well, the semester's drawing to a close for me and with that means final exams and registering for classes. The latter of the two I'm not exactly thrilled about. I never have any luck registering for classes and, apparently, my advisor isn't exactly the most helpful person in the world. Though that's just hearsay and all that jazz because this is my first year in the school I attend. Maybe things will go better for me this semester since one can always hope! Despite what the Oracle says about hope in one of _The Matrix_ movies, one always has to have a little bit of hope! Anywho, please keep your reviews coming and I'll keep responding to them! I appreciate anything you have to say about my little misadventure….good, bad, or indifferent. By the way, just in case anyone was curious, the whole romance aspect of the story should pick up soon….relatively soon as a matter of fact.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

Hawk had told the entire crew that the person they were unplugging was, basically, a female version of him. Maybe worse than he was actually. He painted a picture of someone that was his lackey in the Matrix and described her in every horrible way possible. Hawk claimed that Pixie was clingy and annoying and got into more trouble than she was worth.

The crew had begun to worry, not wanting to deal with another Hawk. Despite what they had seen of Pixie during her time in the Matrix, the freedom she was being presented with now could change a person and the change wasn't always a good thing.

Maybe giving Pixie the freedom- Not to mention the physical health- she had been lacking in the Matrix would bring out a side of her personality they hadn't seen before. The part of her personality that had little or nothing to do with the puzzle solving, computer hacking person they had gotten to know from watching her through the computers.

They had worried for nothing, though.

Bedsides a rare glance thrown in Hawk's direction every once in a blue moon, Pixie appeared to preferred to be on her own. Her exploring was limited to wherever her feet would carry her and she seemed keen on avoiding places where crowds could possibly gather. If, in the rare case, she found herself in a crowd, Pixie did one of two things. She would either leave or head toward the back of the crowd.

She seemed to be making herself as little an annoyance as possible. A seemingly good thing considering Hawk's overbearing presence on the craft.

Pixie really didn't seem like the type to be annoying anyway. She was just too quiet and too, strangely, independent to allow herself to get as annoying as Hawk. Pixie seemed to be a slave to her curious, questioning nature and that was a rather good thing except for the fact she seemed to be either too quiet or too shy to ask questions. How the two sides of her personality balanced themselves out was up for speculation.

The only answer that came, though, was provided by Hawk, who knew Pixie best. Well as best as one could get to know someone as quiet as Pixie could anyway.

Either way, he simply informed everyone that Pixie was "just a little crazy in the head" and that was how she managed to get through life.

When confronted about that comment, Pixie blushed a bit and just gave a shrug. The Pixie way of answering things….

"What do you think is going to happen to us when we get to this Zion place?" Pixie questioned, bringing up a point she was quite concerned about since discovering she was being given the opportunity to have a future to be concerned about.

At the moment, the young girl and Hawk were sitting at the metallic table in what passed for the cafeteria on board the ship. It had taken a little while but Pixie found she was no longer disgusted by the grayish-white, protein based substance that passed for food on the ship.

It was all well and good, as long as she tried to avoid thoughts about mashed human brains. If that though popped into her head then she found she couldn't stomach the stuff. Part of her was hoping beyond hope that this mysterious "Zion" place had something like actual food there. Stuff that required teeth and all that.

She understood they were living in a world without sun and plants couldn't grow without sun. Without plants there wouldn't be any animals to eat either. Still, there was always the fact that they were living in the future. Maybe science caught up with their situation.

At least, that was the idea Pixie had in her head.

"Well, I heard we're going to get left there. Maybe you and I can like move in together or something. Wouldn't that be cool?" Hawk answered.

Pixie wrinkled her nose. She and Hawk were friends, nothing more, nothing less and the idea of moving in with him was slightly disgusting. As it was, she found she was having issues with him and the close quarters of the ship.

He'd become something like a bad shadow. Something that was always there but, because it was part of you, couldn't be detached. She still wanted to be Hawk's friend- Since they'd been friends in the Matrix- but she didn't want him to follow her around, acting like he was more knowledgeable than she was.

Pixie completely understood that he had been freed before her and, because of that, knew things she had yet to discover. She just didn't really like the fact he was trying to hold her hand through everything and, on occasion, talked down to her like she was of a lesser intelligence. The latter just bothered Pixie for some reason.

"I don't know, Hawk. I might be new to this whole world but I kinda think that's not going to happen," Pixie countered, logically, "we're still kids and- Well, not to be rude or anything- you're a teenage boy. From the way it looks on the ship, things haven't changed much when it comes to people like us being left alone together."

The young girl- who was still mildly miserable about the fact her hair was taking its sweet time to grow back in- was just going on the fact that she and Hawk had separate rooms on opposite sides of what appeared to be the ship's dorm corridor. Neither could do any sneaking around unless they wanted to pass by the doors of the ship's older residents. There was a higher chance of getting caught and Pixie figured that was the point.

"Nah. You'll see, they're going to let us run around like adults in this Zion place. Look at all those futuristic movies. People are wild in them," Hawk retorted, not wanting his idea to be incorrect.

He was rather keen on the idea of moving in with Pixie. It fit into the fantasy he'd been toying with in his head. The one that involved her falling madly in love with him since he was really sure that was how she felt anyway. Only, she was playing hard to get and now showing it.

"We're not going to let you two lose in our city," stated Dozer as he entered the room and took a seat across from Pixie.

"So, what's going to happen to us then?" Hawk quipped, annoyance seeping into his voice.

As much as he despised being wrong, Hawk hated having his little fantasies shattered even more. Especially when they came to Pixie. With a few subtle changes, she'd be perfect for him.

"You two are going to be put into the city's orphanage until you are either adopted or of age," the older rebel answered.

Pixie's face fell. She knew she had gotten a new lease on life- Something she was eternally thankful for- by coming to the Real World but the idea of returning to the role of an unwanted orphan wasn't something she relished. She tried to push away the thoughts that had started to drift through her head about getting stuck in the same position as she had been in the Matrix. This was a different place and she wasn't sickly. Things could be different…no, things were going to be different.

She didn't have time to dwell for very long, anyway, as the latter part of Dozer's statement, however, had captured Pixie's interest.

"What's of age?" Hawk brought up, stating exactly what was on Pixie's mind.

"What happens when you become of age?" Pixie questioned, speaking right after Hawk.

Dozer regarded the two young people sitting at the table with him. Hawk, though a good hacker in his own right, was still very immature. He was still scheming with the mind of a fifteen year old boy, trying to get the girl sitting across from him. That was probably why he'd been sent down to make sure Hawk was treating Pixie with, as Morpheus put it, "the respect the young lady deserves."

Pixie, much in opposition to Hawk, was more mature and ready to face the future. Of course, he realized, that might have been a direct result of the fact she now had a future to look forward to. If she could ever get over the almost shy and quiet nature she had and allow the more curious and questioning part to get through, she could make something of herself.

Not saying Hawk couldn't because they boy, definitely had some skills. It just seemed that Hawk's immaturity would hinder more than help him.

"Of age is when someone turns eighteen. When you turn eighteen, you can join a ship's crew or take a job in Zion. Whatever suits you best," Dozer informed the pair.

"Join a ship's crew?" Pixie asked, "As what?"

"You can become an operator like my little brother- Though that's a job traditionally held by Zion borns because they can't jack in.- or a medic like me or just a regular solider like the others," he answered.

"I think I'd like to be a medic," mused Pixie, speaking aloud, "I always wanted to go to medical school but, you know, I figured I would last long enough to do so. Might as well do it now that I have the opportunity."

She'd been in and out of enough hospitals in her young life to get sick of them but that hadn't happened. Instead, she had become intrigued about their inner workings. She started, when able, to ask doctors and nurses what was going on and what they were doing to her. They always gave her the watered down version but Pixie seemed to learn something new every time she was admitted.

Plus, she figured she knew enough medical terms from her own days as a patient to have a jump start on the other students. After all, her life seemed to revolve around doctor's appointments and hospitals.

That had been before she learned she had a limited time to live and that becoming a doctor- or anything else for that matter- was out of the question.

Things were a lot different now, all things considered, and that was a great thing in her opinion.

"I'm going to become one of those warrior types. I'm a great fighter, you know," Hawk boasted, earning himself a pair of confused glares.

"Sure you are Hawk, sure you are," Pixie commented, around a laugh, giddy at the fact she could have a future.

The world might have been different and things weren't exactly as she was use to but it was still a world. Pixie figured if she was going to do well and live up to the gift she'd been given, she was going to have to adapt. She'd have to push her past into, well, her past and start looking towards the future.

That was all she could do as the ship she was residing in sped towards her new home and towards, what Pixie figured, was a new adventure.


	20. Reunion of Friends

AN: Hiya all and welcome back! Sorry for the delay but finals loom for both me and my sister. Actually, I spent the better part of the past few days writing term papers for my sister. Technically, I was "helping" her write the papers but she is quite lazy when it comes to school and refuses to allow school to interfere with her social life. That said, I would up doing more of the work than she did. Now on to my own final exams next week! I just have two tests….one in Genetics and the other in Molecular Biology. Then I'm done! Done for an entire month! On a non-school related note, I saw _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe _with my Girl Scout Troop the night it opened. The movie was excellent! Like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter excellent! Anywho, thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming. I have every intention of responding to your reviews because you take the time out to read this little misadventure of mine. It shocks me that people read the stuff I wrote to pass the time.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

The _Nebuchadnezzar_ had pulled into the massive metal and stone docking bay of Zion. Before they could even think, marvel at their new home, Pixie and Hawk found themselves being swept off again. All the young girl could register was a whole lot of rock, a whole lot of metal, and people who seemed, despite their ragtag way of dress, to get along really well and happy to be where they were.

That happiness- or maybe it was more like contentment- did not appear to extend to Pixie and Hawk's current location.

At the moment, the pair sat in a medium sized room, unadorned save for some ragged furniture, with other nearly bald people of undetermined age and sex. A heavy silence filled the air of the room, as the figure tried to make sense of one another. Sizing up had become difficult because of the lack of hair and the overly large clothing.

There was almost a hostile air in the room, causing Pixie to try to make herself a smaller target on the battered couch she was sharing with a pale figure that seemed to be more interested in his hands than in anything else. Even talking to Hawk, the person she knew was out of the question. Pixie did not want to be the person to break the silence in the room.

"So, where's everyone from?" questioned one of the figures, making a brave attempt at breaking said silence.

"Can we not," quipped another in a harsh voice that was fully of annoyance and other emotions.

Another tense silence filled the room. No one wanted to have their preverbal heads bitten off by the unfriendly figure in the room. That one little exchange seemed to scare the room back into silence again. A chance was taken, an attempt made and it had failed. That was enough for everyone.

Hawk looked down at Pixie- he stood over the couch she was sitting on- with a question in his eyes. She looked away, telling him without saying a word that she was not willing to try to break the silence in the room, and tried not to stare at the stark white young kid sitting next to her. That figure was still interested in his or her hands and was not making eye contact with Pixie. That was probably a good thing because she didn't want to have to speak nor did she want to get yelled at for something as simple as looking at someone else.

"Look Ghost said we're going to be here for awhile as they figure out where to put us," commented the same figure who had tried to break the silence the first time, "I'm not really into sitting here in silence."

He or she was taller than some of the others, looking vaguely Hispanic in complexion. The individual seemed to be interested in trying to start a conversation or, at the very least, get some noise in the room.

"Who's Ghost?" questioned a darker skinned figure, sounding somewhat curious.

"First mate on the ship I came in on. I'm Chian, female, by the way, seventeen and three-quarters, here by way of the _Logos_," she said in an off handed sort of way.

Pixie's head snapped up from her silent study of the ratty cushion on the couch. That name was familiar to here but there was no way...it seemed too unlikely to be true. That was way too big of a coincidence if it was true.

"I've heard of that ship. Someone on the ship I came in on, the _Rebel Stand_ was talking about it. Said it was one of the smallest ships in the fleet. Kwan, male, sixteen," the darker skinned boy stated running his hand over his head and frowning about something he either felt or didn't feel.

The snippy boy looked over to Kwan, still wearing an annoyed expression, and commented, "I was on your ship's sister ship then, the _Rebel Dream_. The name, whatever you want to call it because mine isn't all that great, is Peanut, 16, male and stuff."

Peanut was plain faced, pale skin but not as pale as Pixie or the boy sitting next to her. He was tall- taller than Chian- and was lanky in build. Sort of gangly with long arms that matched his long legs. Still, there was something not exactly pleasant about the expression the boy was wearing. He looked annoyed and that expression seemed permanent for him.

Looking from person to person, wearing the same shocked and confused expression as Pixie, was a vaguely Asian looking figure. One who, once the confusion passed, seemed to have a very haughty air about her. Like she had a huge chip on her shoulder or something to that effect.

"I use to know people with handles like yours. From the Matrix so whatever that means to you people. Anyway, I'm Angelfighter- just call me Angel- sixteen, female obviously here by the _Osiris_," she informed the gathered crowd.

The pale kid, who was sitting with Pixie, rubbed a hand over his or her bristle covered head, apparently confused. He or she had finally looked up from the silent study of their hands and was looking into the faces of the other people in the room.

"This is beyond weird. I had hacker friends with names just like yours before everything got strange and I left my home for this place. I think I fit into Angel's pattern. My name is Wheeler, fifteen, male, came here on the _Vigilant_," he said, cautiously and with a very slight Texan twang to his voice.

Pixie's brandy brown eyes widened like saucers. Wheeler, the same Wheeler it appeared who had taken the time out to teacher her what Hawk would not, had been sitting next to her the entire time.

It seemed, she was among friends and not just Hawk. At least, people she wanted to count as friends because they were all allies in the Matrix. Fellow travelers on the journey to find the truth. It seemed, to her, that the separated journeys had all come together in one place.

"Not to make this any stranger but I'm with Wheeler. I think I know all of you…from the Matrix anyway. I'm Pixie, female, fifteen, here by way of the _Nebuchadnezzar_," she said, slowly as if she was afraid she wasn't going to be able to speak properly.

"I'm Hawk, fifteen but older than Pixie Sticks here, male, came here with Pixie," Hawk stated, not wanting Pixie to be the center of attention.

He was the only unknown individual, it seemed, in the room and he had to make himself known. It didn't feel right that Pixie might just have more friends than he did. Male friends, too, something Hawk didn't really like because he liked Pixie and didn't really want to have to fight for that.

Back when they were living in Matrix, Pixie had no friends, really….male or female. Hawk figured that was a good thing if he was ever going to turn her to his affections. Well, he was sure that was going to happen once Pixie changed a bit and figured herself out.

He went to place a hand on Pixie's shoulder, giving a sign that she was with him, but she moved to quickly out of his way. It wasn't that she didn't want to be associated with Hawk. It was more like she wanted to know if what she was thinking was true before going back to being just Hawk's friend.

Either way, though, Pixie stopped closer to Wheeler than she would have liked. Close enough to notice he had very bright hazel eyes anyway. They were wide enough with shock for her to notice something like that. Then again, the young girl figured her own brandy brown eyes were wide too.

"There's just no way, right? I mean, out of all the hackers to bump into each other in this place. It's just not possible. Imagine what the odds are for this to happen," Angel said, disbelief in her voice.

"Cracker, get it right Angel," Peanut said, sounding as angry as Pixie had imagined him to sound from when they all use to chat together.

"Right, Peanut-head," Chian retorted with a laugh.

"Wheeler," the young boy said, offering a friendly hand to Pixie.

Pixie shook the boy's hand, marveling at how strange it was to meet him face to face. After all, he had just been a name on a computer screen for as long as she'd known him. That name was featureless but now he was an actual person...a face to go with the name.

"I'm Pixie," she announced, with a small smile.

Watching from his spot on the wall, Hawk took the strange reunion in. He didn't like it, not one bit. He wanted to be the part of it all and, since Pixie had never let him in on this part of her life, he was unable to do so. That and he didn't like this Wheeler character. He didn't like the fact he was so friendly with Pixie and that she seemed to be friendly with him too.

That would have to be fixed...some how...someday...For now, though, he'd just watch and see what happened.

Watching turned into actively trying to take part in, once the days in what Pixie figured was Zion's orphanage wore on. Though she wasn't happy going back to her role as an orphan, this was most certainly a preferable situation to the on she had been in while in the Matrix.

After all, she wasn't dying and she had people who were arguably her friends. That had to be better than her situation before.

Out of all the people, though, from her previous little group, Pixie found herself with Wheeler and Chian more than anyone else. She wasn't sure why it was those two only but she wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

With Hawk, who didn't seem to want to leave her alone, Pixie was just glad to have people she could consider allies. They weren't exactly friends yet because she wasn't sure if the behind the computer screens friendship they had in the Matrix counted as anything really but they weren't exactly enemies either, unless one counted the tension that seemed to exist between Hawk and Wheeler.

The two young boys just didn't seem to get along for some reason. They- Hawk more than Wheeler because, as Wheeler put it in his slightly accented voice, he wasn't brought up to look for fights- just always had small quips about each other and how they were brought up in the Matrix.

Pixie figured that they would settle down and make friends once time passed and they got use to each other. Chian, in a manner benefiting an older sister more than a friend, had told her otherwise but Pixie wasn't sure she wanted to believe it. According to Chian, who informed Pixie that she knew these sorts of things because she was older and had seen more than a young fifteen year old girl who had lived a rather sheltered existence, the two of them were like dogs or wolves or some other canine like animal. They were going to test each other to see who was strong for some prize.

Being curious and wanting to know how the analogy worked, Pixie asked the older girl what the prize was. They were all new to this world and had very little in the way of things to be won. Chian simply smiled and informed her that she was a cleaver little girl and she'd figure it out on her own. Dead annoying really but Pixie wrote it off.

There were other things to be concerned about. Namely trying to figure out how in the world she was supposed to get herself something like a normal life. The one thing she never had but always wanted.

(AN: I'm going to go out on a limb here and apologize already. This is my first real attempt at writing something with an underlying current of romance in it. Please, please, tell me how I'm doing with it. I value any opinions on that matter because this is new territory for me and, really, wasn't supposed to happen. It, like a lot of other things, just sort of wandered into the story without me meaning to put it there. Oh and, you know who you are and thanks for the help! Always appreciative of it!)


	21. Only the Beginning of the Adventure

AN: Hiya all! First things first, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy Holidays this year! I hope everyone's having a good time off from school or work or whatever the case might be! It's the time of year for that kind of stuff anyway! Second of all, I'm sort of in a grumpy mood at the moment. Not because of Christmas or anything like that because I'm done all my Christmas shopping. More like because all of the buses and trains in my home city (NYC) have gone on strike and, because of this, all of my final exams were pushed back to January! The part that annoys me most is the fact I studied for both exams and now I have to go back and study again once the test date rolls around again! Anywho, enough of my ranting. There are better things at hand! Thanks for all the reviews and all the advice on the romantic aspects of this story. This is the first time I've ever written anything like this and I'm happy for the help. Please keep the reviews coming….I greatly appreciate them and they always come as a surprise. I'm still shocked that people read my little misadventure involving Texans, a guy named after a bird, and a girl who is very unhappy about being bald.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

There were many things about the Real World Pixie liked and, at the moment, there were very few things she didn't like. Even the fact she was an orphan, as she had been in the Matrix, didn't bother her in the least. Pixie figured, when compared to how her life had been before, being an orphan wasn't so bad now.

Made even easier at the moment by the fact everything else was so different where she was concerned.

One of the things that seemed to exist in both the orphanage in the Matrix and the one in Zion was a certain dynamic existed. The same dynamic that appeared to exist in the school Pixie had attended when she wasn't sick as a dog and in either the hospital or bed depending on the circumstances.

That dynamic was the group one. The one that stated young people forced to live under the same roof, so to speak, would separate into their own little groups of friends. These groups would exclude others and seem like clique but that wasn't really that far from the truth. After all, without cliques how was one supposed to have people to eat with and talk to at any given time.

It was true that there were certain individuals who chose not to be part of any clique and existed on their own. They were the loner type who preferred to be on their own for whatever reason they had. Personal ones from the Matrix and those reasons weren't always spoken about unless they were talked about in whispered undertones.

Then there were the individuals that seemed to be able to exist in any and every group. They went between them, talking, chatting, and sharing rumors at their leisure. They'd go here and there when larger groups of people gathered either when everyone was eating or had some free time.

Pixie, for her part, had never been much of a group person in the Matrix. Not by choice or anything like that. It was just that she was always outside the groups because she was different. Generally her group was the threesome of "me," "myself," and "I."

Hawk came around later and wasn't exactly what Pixie figured she could classify as a "friend." If anything, Hawk was her "ally." That was the word she was far more comfortable using instead of the word 'friend."

Now, though, things were different. Different in a very strange way because it was quite unlike the life she had known before and because it was all based on some sort of friendship that had developed behind the glowing screens of computers.

Aside from Hawk, whom Pixie had known in that face to face way people were supposed to get to know each other, the young girl had acquired a few new allies. Allies that assured her of the fact she'd never have to eat or sit alone again. She wasn't a loner anymore, not by force and not by choice.

"Earth to Pixie Stick…come in Pixie sticks," Hawk commented, waving a hand in front of Pixie's face.

At the moment, the young girl was curled up around herself on a battered semi-circular couch. She had her knees pulled into her chest and her head was resting on said knees. There were two totally different reasons Pixie had chosen to sit the way she was sitting.

The first was quite simple and straightforward. She sat curled up around herself because that was how she comfortable. It was just her preferred way of sitting, even in the Matrix. There was just something about sitting with her knees pulled into her chest that Pixie found very comforting.

The second reason might have been related to the first in a strange way. In her last few months trapped in the Matrix, she'd been unable to sit the way she preferred because of the fluid her body had been retaining. Sitting the way she like to sit made breathing harder than it really had to be. Now, since she could, Pixie sat the way that was comfortable to her.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Pixie commented, in a quiet sort of voice, "comparing the way things were to the way things are. That's it really."

Sitting to the left of her on said couch was Hawk. The young man had become part of the group Pixie found herself in because they had been friends in the Matrix. Pixie had wanted to venture out on her own and test the world without someone she knew but she also didn't want to be rude.

To that end, she didn't want to just not speak to Hawk. She still wanted to be his friend but she wasn't comfortable with the fact Hawk had taken to making sure she was never alone with the other individual sitting on the couch with them.

To her right, and looking a bit board at the moment, was Wheeler. The Texan boy- because, as he explained, he was from a small town in Texas and that was why he had a slight drawl when he spoke- was another member of the little group. Wheeler, himself, was a young man with bright hazel eyes and a slightly muscular form.

He was strong but he didn't look it and he attributed that fact he had been a pitcher in the Matrix. As for his hair, which was growing in like everyone else's, he had told them that it was dirty blond and out of control to the point where people claimed he was scruffy.

"You're always thinking about something, Pixie," pointed out the final member of the group, "I'm not sure that's always a good thing. You hardly ever speak."

The other member of the little group Pixie had been adopted into was sitting in a battered arm chair she had pulled over from someplace else in the room. Her feet were up on the end of the couch and it looked as if she was holding court. Maybe it just looked like that was the case because she was older than the trio of fifteen year olds.

"Chian, you should have seen her in the Matrix. She never really liked to talk to anyone. She use to assist me and she wouldn't say two words to anyone," Hawk laughed, answering for Pixie.

Chian gave Pixie a look, as if trying to find an explanation to what Hawk had told her. Maybe looking for a ring of truth or something to that effect. Chian had, sort of, adopted Pixie as a younger sister. She claimed she felt responsible for the young girl because she was quiet and kept to herself.

"I remember her telling us about assisting you in your hacking. That's how you got your start, right?" Wheeler brought up, with his accented voice.

Pixie nodded and answered, "That's how I got started. Hawk taught me things but I sort of struck out on my own after that."

The young girl really didn't want to get into what her life was like in the Matrix because she didn't want to have to face how Wheeler and Chian might react. Like she had felt in the Matrix, Pixie did not want to be pitied. She didn't want anyone to feel bad for her because her life had been less than perfect. All she wanted was to be treated like everyone else. To be considered normal.

With her new life in Zion, Pixie had been given the chance to put her past behind her and start fresh. Here she could be considered normal and it could truly apply.

"Which is how you found us….hunting on your own," Chian surmised.

The young girl nodded again and gave a slight smile. She wasn't going to get into detail about why she'd had the time to search on her own or anything like that.

"It was probably a good thing we found you, anyway, kid," Chian continued, "someone nice like you shouldn't be adrift in cyberspace. Someone might take advantage of you."

To accent the latter part of the statement, Chian pointedly glared at Hawk. Claiming that he was annoying, Chian didn't like Pixie's shadow from the Matrix. There was something about the boy that rubbed Chian the wrong way though she did like to watch the verbal sparing between him and Wheeler.

A silence, such as one could occur given the room they were in, passed between the small group. They were still getting use to each other in that way. Sometimes they ran out of things to say. Silence would reign until someone came up with something else to say. That someone was rarely Pixie, as she sat on the couch watching the others in her little group.

She did want to know things about them but Pixie felt it was unfair for her to ask. Her asking might lead to them asking about her and that might be information she didn't want to give up to them.

"So, what were we all into while stuck in the Matrix?" Chian, who was generally the one who started conversations because she really did seem to like to talk and to get others to talk as well, asked the three fifteen year olds.

"Computers," Hawk, simply, answered, "I'm a computer whiz just in case you didn't notice. After all, I taught Pixie everything she knew and that had to be good enough because we're both sitting here."

The smile he was wearing was wide and, fairly, cheesy. He looked incredibly smug and proud of himself. It bothered Chian and Wheeler to no bitter end because, from what Pixie had told them in their scant few comments on the internet, Hawk was leaving holes in her education. Holes she decided to fill on her own and that was how she came to meet Chian, Wheeler, and the others.

Wheeler gave a derisive snort and went back to his study of the battered cushions of the couch. Said snort earned him a tiny chuckle from Pixie as she tried to figure out just what she wanted to answer.

"You must not be such a computer whiz if your student could break into your computer and tie it up," Wheeler commented, dryly, recalling the event that had lead to Pixie getting help from him and the others.

"That was a mistake. I let my walls down for a second and she managed to sneak in. No skill needed and the help of a second rate hacker wasn't needed either. Sorry, Wheels," Hawk retorted with some hostility in his voice.

He, like Wheeler, Pixie, and Chian, recalled the day the Texan was talking about. That was the day he had first discovered that it was entirely likely his single student wasn't going to be reliant on him anymore. She was starting to become self sufficient and he really didn't like it. Liked it less when Hawk discovered that Pixie was learning from a young boy who could call her "Pix," the nickname that was strictly forbidden for him to use.

Pixie probably should have defended herself against Hawk's words and the fact he had just put down the skills he had taught her to use but she found she didn't have the words. She was in shock from what Hawk had just said about the feat she'd always thought was amazing. The shock, and the need to say anything, passed quickly though as Pixie decided that Hawk was just posturing. He was just trying to make himself seem bigger than he was because of that whole little battle he was having with Wheeler.

Wheeler shrugged, seemingly unaffected by Wheeler's comment. He had told Pixie once that he didn't go looking for fights so, in her mind anyway, Pixie figured that's why he wasn't bothered by Hawk and his words. Instead he turned his attention to Chian and to the question she posed.

"I was really into baseball," he answered in a wistful voice, "everything about the game of baseball. Huge fan of the Houston Astros though I didn't really get to see them play in the stadium a lot because I came from a small town. That was all I ever use to do, back then, work on my computer and talk about baseball."

"Did you say you played, too?" Pixie asked, interjecting herself into the conversation.

She was almost sure that it was Wheeler who had mentioned he had played baseball while in the Matrix but the young girl knew she could be wrong. It could have, easily, been someone else. A bit of information she had over heard and ascribed to Wheeler for some strange reason.

Looking over at Pixie, plainly caught off guard by the fact she had even said anything at all, he smiled widely- one of those genuinely glad smiles that reached his eyes and made them seem brighter- and nodded his head.

"I was the left handed starting pitcher for my local team, the Hornets. One of my coaches once said that I could have gone to play for the major leagues some day, if I had to drive to do it. You don't get a lot of quality left handed starting pitching anymore," he answered with a small amount of pride in his voice.

"Did you want to?" Chian asked, clearly enjoying the story she was being told.

Wheeler gave a shrug and replied, "My dad- or whoever that guy was that the Matrix said was my dad- was a pitcher in the minor leagues for the Boston Red Sox. He tore up his shoulder, though, so he had to give up pitching. I didn't want to end up like him but, if he had his way, I would have been pitching for the major leagues and not sitting here with you guys."

"You were a pitcher, huh?" Hawk commented, a decidedly evil smile on his face.

A smile that Pixie was starting to associate with him teasing Wheeler about something. It probably wasn't a good thing that Hawk wore his motives outwardly like that because Wheeler or whoever he was teasing could plan on saying something in their own defense.

"Yeah," Wheeler answered, as calm as ever except for the fact his bright hazel eyes took on a diamond hard quality to them, "I just said I was. You didn't hear me?"

"I heard you alright," Hawk commented, still wearing that same smile and throwing a wink to Pixie who just looked baffled about what was going on, "I just wanted to know if you preferred to pitch or to catch, that's all."

Chian rolled her eyes and shook her head as Hawk continued, asking, "Now, did you hit from both sides of the plate? I think that's called being a switch hitter right?"

Hawk sat back on the couch, looking fairly pleased with himself. He wanted to see what the seemingly unflappable Wheeler could get, at the very least, angry with him. Hawk was well aware of the fact he was pushing Wheeler's buttons and that Wheeler was, most likely, annoyed with him. It just baked his noodle that Wheeler wasn't showing it.

Pixie's baffled look grew tenfold. She knew Hawk and Wheeler liked to bother each other, Hawk more than Wheeler, but she had no idea where this was going. Like Hawk, she'd watched baseball games while in the Matrix. Being a switch hitter didn't seem like a big deal. Maybe it was good for the team or something to that effect. Pixie wasn't sure because she'd never really understood the ins and outs of baseball.

"I was a lefty pitcher, Hawk, and I was a lefty batter," Wheeler explained, not getting into Hawk's little game, "Not one of those unusual ones that pitch with one arm and hit with the other. I'm strictly a lefty/lefty player."

Hawk groaned, annoyed that he wasn't getting Wheeler annoyed at all. He'd figure out to get Wheeler angry and show Pixie how not nice of a person the boy was. It was just going to take a few more buttons being pushed.

"Ignore the boys, Pixie," Chian laughed with a shake of her head.

She noticed that during the discourse between Hawk and Wheeler, Pixie had gone very quiet. The younger female was just watching and listening, her face reflecting what was going on in her mind. Then again, Chian had started to assume Pixie really lived in her own head.

"I still don't understand why they do that," Pixie admitted, as both Hawk and Wheeler excused themselves.

Hawk appeared to be heading back to his dorm, probably to get into some sort of trouble as he tried to blow off some steam. Wheeler, for his part, claimed he was going to be "right back." He was going off to look for something to snack on and had promised to bring said snacks back for Chian and Pixie.

"It's what they do, kid, get use to it. Take it from me; I've seen these sorts of things. The two of them are just going to keep doing this until one of them backs off and the other gets their prize," Chian explained for what seemed like the millionth time.

The older female figured that Pixie was a smart girl- or, at the very least, she seemed like a smart girl- and that she would catch on as quickly as she did when presented with a puzzle. That didn't appear to be the case. Puzzles and things like that seemed to click with Pixie's mind. Everything else went over her head that was growing in with bristly dark hair.

"But what prize?" Pixie wanted to know, peering up and noting that Wheeler had returned empty handed.

Whatever answer Chian was going to give, she had to give it quickly lest Wheeler hear it.

"That's for you to figure out, kid." Chian retorted with a smile, "Now, let's hear about what you were good at in the Matrix."

Pixie sighed and gave Wheeler a friendly sort of smile when he sat back down. This new world was good….in its own way.


	22. Can't Take It In

AN: HAPPY 2006 EVERYONE! First off, I hope everyone had a very, very, merry, Merry Christmas and a jingle, jangle, jolly holiday and wicked awesome New Year! Here's hoping 2006 brings good luck and all sorts of other good things for everyone out there! Second of all, aside from two days in the middle of the month (in order to make up my blasted finals that were cancelled because of the NY Transit Strike), I'm on a month long winter break! I get to spend my days reading, writing, and playing video games (especially Path of Neo because I, finally, got a Playstation 2). There are still dance classes and Girl Scouts, though, but those are always a good time! Finally, thanks for the reviews everyone! I greatly appreciate them, no matter how many times I say that! All of you rock like a box of socks and my putting this story (which was really only written to pass the time and to get a few ideas out of my head) up worth it. I really appreciate all the input and, please, keep it coming. Feel free to let me know how I'm doing….good, bad, or indifferent!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Can't close my eyes  
They're wide awake  
Ev'ry hair on my body  
has got a thing for this place  
Oh empty my heart  
I've got to make room for this feeling  
so much bigger than me

It couldn't be any more beautiful - I can't take it in."

(From "Can't Take It In" found on the score to _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe_)

"Hey ya, Rain, what brings you down here today?" questioned the cloudy grey haired woman sitting at a console in the orphanage's main entrance.

The older woman seemed less than busy at the moment and almost welcomed the distraction that was Rain. There was little going on at the moment and she had been alone with her thoughts. Not always the best of ideas, given her circumstances, really.

Rain, a younger woman with mousy brown hair and a little boy with hair of auburn in her arms, approached the console, setting the little boy on the ground at her feet. The boy, short, spindly limbed, and with a deceivingly young face, looked rather board and unhappy to be with his mother. Truth be told, he wished he was with his father. At least his father didn't drag him halfway around Zion to someplace where there were no toys to play with.

"Same thing as last time, Jemma. I'm looking for a kid to adopt. It's been awfully lonely with Torrent gone for as long as he has been," she replied in a small voice.

Her husband, a man named Torrent who worked on the _Rebel Dream_, had not been home in nearly a month and Rain had begun to worry. The last thing she wanted was her son, Eli, to grow up without his father around.

"I know what you mean," Jemma concurred in the same voice, "Haven't heard a peep from Euchro in an age."

The mood in the room grew somber as both females, difference in age not mattering at the moment, began to dwell on their situation. They had chosen to remain in Zion while their respective husbands worked between the Real World and the Matrix. Now they were living with their choice.

A small sound from Eli brought the pair back to the present moment. He was straining to reach for a stray rock on the floor to throw at a passing person. In his young mind, that was something fun for him to do even though he recalled his mother telling him it wasn't nice to throw things at people.

Rain sighed and picked the little boy up, sitting him at the edge of the desk. He frowned at his mother, displeasure clearly written all over his face. This was definitely not what he had in mind when he wanted to have fun.

"So, you want another kid, same kind as last time we went through this?" Jemma questioned.

"Actually, I was thinking a girl this time. The last kid you gave me- that guy- decided he didn't like the way I was taking care of Eli and kept sneaking off with him," Rain interjecting, prying something out of Eli's left hand.

The little boy, no more than four or five, wasn't giving up his well earned prize and was giving his mother a fight. He'd seen the shiny stone on Jemma's desk and decided he liked it quite a bit and, now, he didn't want his mother taking it from him.

"I'm glad you said that, really I am. There are three girls still here from a few recent ship returns that are still looking for homes," Jemma said, taking Eli from Rain.

Jemma handed Rain three handheld devices, each displaying a different file. The files gave the name of one of the individuals Jemma had been talking about, age, both in Real World and Matrix time, and a basic medical file. Each file would be updated as often as needed, more often still if the person mentioned wanted to join a crew on a ship someday.

Ever so carefully, Rain read through the files. There was no real rhyme or reason as to the people she chose to foster. What she looked for was some intangible quality, some small thing that stood out to her and made the person she picked different from the rest.

"This one," she finally said, "I'll take this one."

The file of the child she wanted was placed at the top of the pile of devices. Taking said pile from Rain with one hand, Jemma returned her attention to her console. She threw a quick glance at the person Rain had chosen, as if checking her choice.

"That's a good pick. She's the last of the set that came in here a few weeks ago. Smart as a whip, this one is. Catches on quick," Jemma commented, handing Rain back her squirming son.

Rain disappeared for a few moments, heading through an alcove in the rock wall behind her, returning with a scraggly haired child tailing her. She, the younger female, looked a bit lost in the oversized sweater and clunky boots she was wearing at the moment.

"Pixie, this is Rain and her son, Eli. Rain this is Pixie," she said by way of greeting.

The young female gave the elder woman a wan smile. At the moment, Pixie wanted nothing more than to get out of the orphanage. All of her friends, including Hawk who seemed to be thriving on the fact he was making her life harder, had gone been adopted by other families.

She'd been left behind...again. This time, though, it wasn't exactly the worst of fates. After all, Wheeler and Chian had promised to visit and find a way to get her out. That much she appreciated because they were, in Pixie's mind, almost friends with her.

"Look, I know this is a wonderful place but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming home with my son and I. Figured it would be something different from being here," Rain brought up.

Pixie seemed to consider the offer, though her mind was already made up. Not that her feelings weren't plainly apparent given the smile on her face. A large, bright smile that reached her brandy brown eyes and seemed to make them a bit brighter too.

"That would be very nice," she replied, trying to keep her voice even and be polite at the same time.

Needless to say, the excitement slipped into her tone no matter how hard she tried to keep that from happening.

"I've got your information, Rain. Take her up with you," Jemma called, peeking out from behind the console's screen, "I know Pixie's eager to see something other than the inside of this orphanage and the school here."

Pixie followed, meekly, behind the older woman and her son. The heights of Zion spiraled above and below her. With her newly repaired eyesight, it was a breath taking sight. Pixie was almost sure no matter how many times she would see, she was never going to get over that brief shock of seeing her new home for the first time.

Just the idea that people were living in a place without sun and grass was amazing to her. The sheer size of the city, the fact it was a combination of manmade and natural, took her breath away. In a good way, of course, because she'd been unable to breathe in a bad way, too.

"So this is my new home," Pixie mused, as she followed the woman-Rain she called herself- down a long catwalk.

She figured that she'd best hurry lest she get left behind or lost. Getting lost was not something she was interested in given the fact she really hadn't seen all that much of her home.

Their destination was an industrial looking elevator, which the trio boarded as soon as it reached their level. Pixie was quiet, watching Rain lift Eli up and direct him to push the proper button. She didn't know what to say, still in shock about even getting adopted. This was one of those wildest dreams come true type things for her.

Still, a very uncomfortable silence, punctuated by the grinding of gears and the fact no one else was getting on the elevator, filled the small space. Even Eli, as young as he was, noticed that something wasn't quite right and said nothing. He was still and silent and that was eerie to his mother.

"So, are you...that is...do you have..." Pixie brought up, trailing off as she lost the words she wanted to use and the nerve she had worked up even to break the silence.

Instead, she rolled up a length of her sleeve to show Rain her arm. That was a little easier than saying anything and made her point perfectly clear. In her short time among others like her in Zion, she'd heard quite a few words used to describe the metallic items that dotted her skin.

"Jacks?" Rain answered, using the most common word for them, pride growing in her voice as she spoke, "I got them too. I'm a pod born like you and my husband. Not like my Eli, though."

Pixie started at the young boy for a moment, eyes coming to rest on the back of his head. Absent was the large jack that her hair was just starting to cover up properly. Pixie was still unhappy with her hair as it grew in slower than she would have liked. Thankfully, now she didn't have to explain her hair color as the fact it was brown-black was easily seen. Once it got longer- at least to her shoulders- Pixie would be a very happy camper.

Though, she really did have every intention of growing it back out to waist length as it had been before she'd been freed. That was neither here nor there at the moment, irrelevant to the current conversation.

"How come?" Pixie asked, trying to figure out where she'd seen a jackless person before and failing at the moment.

Pixie's, usually, sharp mind was still a bit dull with the shock of what had just taken place. Maybe once it got over the idea of being taken into someone's family, she'd go back to being her normal self.

Her questioned seemed to fall on deaf ears as the elevator's doors opened with a harsh metallic sound. A bustling catwalk was revealed when they parted, people some with very evident jacks in their arms, legs, back, and chest others without, moved around. There was a feeling of neighborhood and friends, despite the strange circumstances.

Pixie walked along sometimes next to Rain, sometimes behind her trying to take everything in at once. Her eyes were as wide as they could get without popping out of her head and still Pixie found herself unable to take in everything. Something she was very sorry about but figured she'd have time to see.

She stopped in front of a wide red door, Rain's hands resting on the circular device that seemed to act in place of the doorknob.

"My home," Rain said, "Please try to remember where it is. I don't want you getting lost."

Pixie stared at the door, trying to remember its placement among millions of other similar red doors. How she was ever going to find her way here was beyond her but-hey-she remembered far stranger things while living in the Matrix. Once she committed herself to memorizing something, Pixie was, generally, good for doing it.

Rain pushed the door open allowing Eli and Pixie to pass her before shutting the door with a clang. She excused herself, taking Eli off for his nap. Pixie was left standing in the center of a room longer than it was wide.

Along one wall was, what appeared to be, some kind of kitchen equipment, all utilitarian in nature and design. That seemed to be a common theme here in the Real World, though. That and everything being a bit on the ratty side. The couch on the far end of the room and the mismatched table and chairs adjacent from the kitchen like area were all battered and careworn but still usable. On assorted shelves and in niches on the walls, were bits and pieces of computer equipment and fabric looking swatches.

Two doors stood on opposite sides of the couch. One Rain had gone though, indicating that a bedroom of some type was through the door. What was behind the other was a mystery at the moment.

Rain returned and took a seat at the table. She indicated for Pixie to take a seat at the table as well. The young girl had been standing in the center of the room, looking around her new home with a wide eyed stare.

"Welcome to my humble home. It's not much when compared to what the Matrix offers but it's real," Rain said with a friendly sort of smile.

"It's very nice," Pixie commented, quickly, unsure of how else to answer.

She didn't want to seem rude or like an ingrate or anything like that. She was thankful but very uncomfortable and unsure of what to do at the moment.

Rain was watching Pixie with knowing eyes. She, herself, was a pod born and could recall her first few months in the Real World. Those had been both the best and worst months of her new life. Good and bad surprises awaited any who started their life in Zion. This girl was no exception.

"Look, I'm sorry about ignoring your question earlier but I wanted to get Eli home. He gets a bit unruly when he's tired. You wanted to know why Eli has no jacks," Rain brought up.

Pixie nodded, realizing where she had seen arms without jacks. The two brothers on the _Nebuchadnezzar_, Tank and Dozer, had been without jacks. She knew she should have asked why they were without holes but, part of her, had just assumed one could get them removed or covered. Of course, the lack of scars or lumps in the skin had not crossed her mind.

"Eli was born right here in Zion. Down in the medical center, actually," Rain said with a wistful smile.

"So, if he was born here, he wouldn't need jacks because he was never part of the Matrix system," Pixie summed up, some of her usual mind coming back to her as the shock abated.

"Very good," the elder woman commented, "your file said you were quick minded. You're going to have to share a room with him, if you don't mind."

Pixie smiled happily, not really caring where she slept. All that mattered, at the moment, was the fact she had gotten out of the orphanage. It may have been a strange sort of family but Pixie found she had suddenly earned herself a place in one.

"I don't mind at all. Thank you for doing this, by the way. I was an orphan in the matrix and being adopted was something I was never going to get," Pixie admitted.

"No problem. All I'm going to ask from you is for you to do something useful here in Zion. Do what you can, basically," Rain said, not exactly lecturing the young girl.

"I intend on," Pixie said, firmly.

Of course, she wasn't sure what she was going to do- She was still keen on that whole being involved in medicine to some degree- but point was moot at the moment.

"Good….you'll learn quickly that slackers don't exactly do well here. We all have to work at something to keep this city functioning," Rain explained.

Shaking her head, as if shaking the ideas she had out, Rain added, "But that's enough of that for now. You'll have plenty of time for being serious later on. For now, let's see if I can't find you something a little better to wear. Something that doesn't look like it'll fit Torrent and still be huge."

Pixie laughed and figured it was best to allow Rain to help her out when it came to clothing. After all, she figured it would be rude not to and Pixie didn't want to appear rude. That might not be such a good thing given her circumstances and the fact she had herself a family now.

"Weightless in love...unraveling  
For all that's to come  
and all that's ever been  
We're back to the board  
with every shade under the sun  
Let's make it a good one

It couldn't be any more beautiful - I can't take it in."

(From "Can't Take It In" found on the score to _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe_)


	23. Wonderful

AN: Hiya everyone! I'm wicked excited because I am now, officially, done my first semester of graduate school! I just took my two finals so my semester is now over. Now I get a bit of a break before I go back to classes and all that jazz. Well, school classes anyway because I still have dancing and Girl Scouts and stuff. There's quite a bit of drama at the place I dance at the moment but that isn't why this chapter is up later than I wanted it to be up. No…that honor goes to my younger sister who is also off from school at the moment. She refuses to leave me alone and won't let my do much of anything other than type her IMs to her friends. Anywho, thanks for all the reviews and I hope everyone is enjoying my little misadventure involving a girl with the name of a fictional creature, a baseball player from Texas, and a boy who thinks he's great. Please, keep the review coming and let me know how I'm doing, especially in the chapter coming up as they're not exactly something I feel all that great at writing. It sort of accidentally happened in the story. Still, you reviewers rock like a box of socks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Someone's at the door! Someone's at the door!" yelled Eli, jumping up and down in the center of the main room.

The little boy's voice was annoyingly sing-song and very, very loud. Two things Eli had recently discovered annoyed both his mother and the strange girl who was sleeping in the other bed in his room. For a girl who wasn't his mommy, the strange girl- His mommy told him to call her Pixie but he decided it was in his best interest to call her Pix. - was fun.

At least, she liked to play even if she was big.

"Pixie, snag him before he tries to get out again," Rain called darting from the area she'd creatively dubbed the kitchen.

Sure it was just against the far wall of the main room but it was still the only area used for cooking what amounted to meals in Zion. That said, it was, officially, a kitchen.

For the past few days, the two females had been taking turns trying to keep the little boy in the three room home. Someplace in his young head, the idea of darting out onto the catwalk and running its length was a good thing.

Much to the annoyance of his mother and newly acquired sister. Sort of like the yelling and sing-song tone. Things to annoy the bigger people in his life and make him laugh a bit.

Pixie left the sweater she had been repairing on the arm of the battered couch and picked up the struggling little boy. She tried to get him to sit down next to her but it was to no avail. The best she could do was get him to sit somewhat still in her lap and not get kicked by small legs in heavy boots since Eli, flat out, refused to wear anything that weren't the boots like the ones his father wore all the time.

Of course, as soon as Rain had pulled the hatch open Eli slipped from Pixie's grip and ran the entire length of the room as fast as his small legs could carry him. Pixie nearly toppled off said couch as she tried to catch the boy and Rain did no better as he slipped around her hands.

He seemed to be headed back onto the street until the woman at the door grabbed him. She picked up and walked into the room with the boy still struggling in her arms.

"Una," Rain said, by way of greeting, "what brings you by?"

Behind her stood two others; one male, one female. So alike in feature they were that Pixie had to assume they were twins.

"Just a visit, Rain. I believe this belongs to you," Una said, sitting down and handing Rain her struggling son.

Rain pulled Eli into her lap with a frown on her face. She and Torrent, once he got himself home and got some well deserved rest, were going to have to have a long talk about Eli and his recent discovery of how to annoy people.

He stared at Una, totally unaware of his mother's frown, and said, in a matter of fact voice, "That's Pix."

"Her name's Pixie, Eli. Not Pix," Rain corrected, shaking her head.

The two women talked for a few moments while Pixie returned her attention to her hole ridden sweater. The twins, meanwhile, had begun to converse among themselves in low tones. Every so often their matched gazes would flick over to Pixie and then return to wherever they were looking prior to that.

Apparently, they had a good idea as to why their mother had dragged them along on her little visit. Pixie, busy working, was completely unaware which was probably a good thing.

"You two," Rain said, turning around in her chair to face the twins, "take Pixie out to see some of Zion. She's in your classes and doesn't know anyone really."

"Fine," groaned the male twin.

"Let's go," the female twin added, sounding just as annoyed as the male.

Pixie threw a questioning glance at Rain who nodded for her to go on with the twins. She pulled the sweater she had been repairing over her head and followed the pair out the door unsure of what she was walking into.

She walked, what seemed a long distance, trying to decide what these two were going to do to her. They were about a head taller than she was and looked to be better built. Both had honey colored hair- the female's longer than the male's- and dark blue eyes.

Out of no where, the pair stopped, wheeling around to face Pixie. She nearly jumped out of her skin, expecting the worst.

"Sorry about before," the female said.

"We do that from time to time to annoy out mother," the male added.

The female twin continued, stating, "See, we knew what our mother and Rain had planned and they didn't have the good grace to tell us so my brother and I decided to bother her a little."

"Actually, sis," the boy threw in, "I think we're going to hear it when we get back. You know how mom gets."

"O...ok," Pixie stammered, obviously startled and wondering what was going on.

"I'm Aisling, by the way, and this is my little brother Adoh," the female stated, offering a hand to Pixie.

The boy, Adoh, did likewise. He was wearing the most lopsided grin Pixie had ever seen and seemed to be the friendlier of the pair.

Pixie shook both their hands, at the same time, and commented, "I'm Pixie. Well, that's what I called myself back in the Matrix and it's kind of my name now."

She sat up against the gated railing with the twins, following their lead and with one twin on either side of her. The entire situation felt strange to Pixie. The hackers she had known from the matrix and Hawk were one thing. This was a totally different entity. She was being ask to make friends on her own without hiding behind something else.

She was being asked, she guessed, to do something she wasn't comfortable doing. Still, Pixie figured this was a new world for her and she should, at least, try to do some things differently. Well, as differently as things could get done when all that really changed was where she was living.

"So you're like a pod born. You have holes, right?" questioned Adoh, curiously.

Pixie nodded, giving the boy a strange look. That didn't stop her from rolling up the lower part of her sleeve to show the twins a length of jack laced arm.

"What I wouldn't give to have those," Adoh continued, "beats getting normal shots and stuff down in the med center. It would make my life a whole lot easier."

Aisling reached behind Pixie, smacking her brother in the back of the head. The smack must have hurt because the sound Aisling's hand made against Adoh's skull was quite loud. He grimaced and shot a glare at his sister. Not a very vicious looking on when compared to the look Aisling was giving him.

"Excuse my brother. Not only is he a moron but he's had this weird obsession thing with jacks since we were little. We're Zion born, you know, jackless," Aisling informed Pixie, explaining her twin's question.

"It's alright. I hardly ever notice them anymore," Pixie stated with a shrug, trying to seem lax and comfortable and failing miserably.

She bit her lip as she replayed what she had just said to the twins. The words were ones she regretted as they weren't…completely….true.

Correcting herself, she said, "Actually, I only seem to notice them when things are starting to seem normal Like, I could be having dinner with Rain and Eli and I'll spot them. I freak out for a few seconds before I remember what happened...where I am now and stuff like that."

"Do you remember it?" Adoh asked, in a low voice.

"Remember what?" Pixie countered, feeling as stupid as she thought she sounded.

Everyday, something else happened to remind her that she was still a baby in this world. Her age might have said she was a teenager but this world said otherwise. There were things she still had to learn and get accustomed to before she could really tell herself she as comfortable in her new surroundings.

"Getting unplugged," he answered in the same low voice.

She hesitated, not sure of she wanted to share the story with these two people. Pixie felt that it was a singular situation, something only a fellow Pod Born could understand. The details of the even had been sketchy, becoming clearer in dreams she'd been having. At least that's what Pixie figured as her mind tried to organize itself.

"I don't really remember a lot of it," she lied, "besides there's not much I can say about it."

"Come on. Look, if we don't understand it, it'll just be a really good story. I'm sure you can remember something about it. Even our mom remembered her unplugging," Aisling cajoled, "You have to remember something."

Pixie sighed and let her mind drift back to that day- Was it even day? -when she was freed.

_**FLASHBACK**_

Her hands moved against the strange skin all around her. Motions were slow though, feeling as if she was moving through red jell-o. Maybe it was the strange skin above her but she pressed outward, feeling a tear form.

Pixie pushed herself through the tear, collapsing on the lip of the strange mitochondrial shaped...thing...that she had been trapped in. Her chest burned from the exertion and she found that she was growing steadily out of breath. Her hands, white as newly fallen show, reached up to her face and found something heavy and metallic feeling attached over her nose and mouth.

Somewhere in her addled brain she recalled wearing a mask like this once to help deliver oxygen to her body. This time, it seemed, it was acting as a vacuum, sucking the vital gas from her lungs. That didn't seem right to the confused Pixie.

She reached up, using what strength she could muster, and gave the strange mask a tug. With an out rush of air, a result of the breaking of the seal the vacuum had created with her face, she let the heavy mask fall into the pool of red slime that was pooled around the lower portion of her body.

Oxygen rushed into her lungs, releasing the burning sensation and giving new strength to her muscles. She lifted her head up, trying to take in the strange place she found herself in. Everything was a blurry red-banded-black, glowing all around with a faint pinkish light. She glanced to either side of her, a difficult task considering she seemed to be somehow tethered to her own pod.

To her right and left, less blurry than everything else in the vast space, were pods like her own. Within each pod was the unmoving outline of a fellow human being.

Confusion began to set in, followed quickly by sheer terror. Where was she? What exactly was this place and how did she get there?

Someplace in her mind she remembered taking a red pill and being told she was going to become privy to the truth.

Those thoughts and questions were chased from her mind by the splitting of the air by a high pitched hum. It was insectlie in nature, combined with the thrum of well working computer machinery. Whatever was making the sound appeared to be growing closer and closer for the sound grew louder and louder in pitch.

Pixie looked up and opened her mouth to scream. No sound came as she took in the source of the sound. All claws and red lights, hovering of its own power it seemed, was a monstrous machine. It seemed to regard Pixie with a strange looking eye. In its mirrored surface, Pixie spied a familiar but unfamiliar face. Two frightened eyes, her own, stared out of a bald head.

With the strength of a vise, a claw from the machine-monster grabbed Pixie around her jaw, holding her head still. The high whine of a dentist's drill split the air, ringing in loudest in Pixie's ears. The sound seemed to come part and parcel with the white hot pain that seared across every nerve ending Pixie had.

The machine-monster let go, Pixie's body hitting the lip of the pod with a dull thud. It disappeared taking its hum with it.

For an all too brief moment all was still. Then everything went to pieces.

Whip like, things snapped off the young girl, hitting the remaining slime with loud splashes. It was unending series of small pains, not escalating into something larger.

Beneath her, the smile began to drain out with such force that Pixie went with it. Weak fingers found no purchase on the slime slick, smooth walls of her once home.

Like some kind of twisted water slide, Pixie twisted and turned her way down. Her final destination was unknown, though.

Hitting the dark water below the slide hurt. Once, twice, three times she bobbed up and down in the water. Pixie had never learned how to swim for the water made breathing a bigger chore. It put undue pressure on her chest; pressure she could not afford to have there.

As blackness too her, the last thing she became aware of was a cold metal claw and a bright, blinding white light.

_**END FLASHBACK**_

"That's sick. Like being born in a really weird way or something," Adoh commented, making a disgusted face.

Much to Pixie's surprise, the Zion born twins had understood the entire story. They gasped at the correct places and asked more questions than she could possible answer.

A genuine interest in her story, even if it was a bit fractured at times, was expressed. Then again, she figured they might have learned about such things in whatever passed for grade school here since it seemed to be part of the culture of Zion.

"Yeah," Pixie affirmed, "You two are lucky you didn't have to go through that. It was, seriously, the strangest thing I've ever been through and I've been though some strange things in the Matrix."

Aisling laughed and grew quiet for a moment. All around the lights had begun to dim, becoming pinpricks along the metal streets. Without a sun or moon to tell the time, the city ran on the dimming and brightening of street lights. The slight dimming had indicated it was twilight in the underground city.

"We'd better get you back. I mean, I don't want Rain freaking out or anything. Then we'd get in trouble and you don't want to see our mom mad," Aisling stated, earning a snicker from her twin brother.

The walk back to Rain's bunker was considerable different from the walk away from it. Pixie listen with rapt attention as the twins talked about schooling and what people did for fun in the vast underground city. She assumed that, since they were born in the city, they knew better than she did. That said, every bit of advice they offered was considered valuable.

"This your room?" Aisling asked, coming to stop in front of a red door.

Pixie made a small sound, like a mouse being stepped on. That was one of the few things she had yet to work out; where exactly she lived. Going a few paces down from her new home was one thing but the twins had taken her further away then she dared to venture on her own. She wasn't really sure if they had returned to the right door or not.

"Not really sure. It's hard to tell," Pixie mumbled.

Aisling laughed knowingly. She and her brother had seen their fair share of newly freeded people wandering, lost, around Zion.

"Only one way to tell," she commented, banging a fist on the heavy metal door.

Aisling, then, moved to lean against the railing with her twin and Pixie. The trio of young people stood up against the railing for what seemed like an age and a half before the door creaked open.

"Where were you three?" Rain, sternly, asked, blocking the exit so Eli would try to escape again.

"Um...talking," Aisling stated, taking the role as speaker.

Much to everyone's surprise, Rain smiled. They had been expecting a lecture, possible a long one for keeping the new girl out so late but the lecture didn't come.

"Good to hear. Are you two willing to take her down to the Academy for classes tomorrow? Keep an eye on her, show her the ropes and stuff and get her someone to talk to other than you two," Rain broached.

"Wouldn't mind at all. It'll be fun," Aisling retorted, with a look that made Pixie's blood run very cold.

True enough Aisling seemed friendly but there was something scheming about that look as well. As if she was already planning something and Pixie had very little to say about what she was planning.

"Bright and early here tomorrow morning," Adoh added with a cheery grin.

"Go on you two, you mom said she'd meet you at home," Rain said, shooing the twins along the catwalk.

"See ya, Pixie!" one of the twins called over their shoulder as they walked away.

Despite the butterflies about starting what amounted to school in her new home, Pixie felt better than she had in ages. Here she was with a new lease on life, an actual family, and, now, friends. Though new territory it was for her, the young pod born found that she was comfortable within its confines. Life, for once, was as it should have been...no matter how strange the circumstances.

Now if she could just meet up with her hacker friends- Wheeler, Chian, and Hawk- things would be that much better. No matter how much she looked, she never saw them in the building that acted as a school for Zion and Pod Born children.

Then thing would be that much better.


	24. No Such Thing

AN: Hiya everyone and welcome back to my little misadventure! I hope everyone is enjoying the ride as much as I'm enjoying posting this little misadventure for you. I beat "Path of Neo", by the by. The new ending of the game is alright…not as good as the ending of the third movie but that's just my opinion. The game, itself, is pretty fun and will keep you busy for a while. Now I'm stuck on playing "Final Fantasy X" and "Kingdom Hearts." Both very interesting games and quite fun to play. Alas, though, my video game playing time is about to be cut into as I start school on Thursday. School's not too bad, though, but, then again, I like school so don't go by me! Anywho, thanks for all the reviews! I greatly appreciate them and they make me smile. I never really expect anyone to, actually, read what I've written so it always comes as a shock when I get a review. Please keep them coming and let me know how I'm doing!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings  
And the drama queens  
I'd like to think the best of me  
Is still hiding  
Up my sleeve…" (from "No Such Thing" by John Mayer)

Dressed in what amounted to be the neatest clothing she owned and her still growing hair as neat as she could get it, Pixie followed Aisling and Adoh down through a maze of by ways and elevators to arrive at one of the lower levels in Zion. She knew where what was, basically, Zion's version of an upper level school was but she was with new people now. Walking alone was one thing while going with others was something else entirely. She was too busy listening to the set of twins talk among themselves anyway about their friends and their plans for the next few days.

In front of the trio was a large stone cavern with people milling around the entrance ramp in groups of two and three. If one was completely able to ignore the surroundings, it really could have been the outside of any high school in the Matrix. Just people standing around and talking to their friends while they waited for class to begin.

Of course, these were people dressed in careworn clothing with satchels slung over their shoulders of on their backs. That was one thing that couldn't really be ignored. No one was dressed in whatever passed for Matrix fashion at the moment. Rather, everyone wore what they had or what they thought best for school.

"It's still a cave," Pixie commented, still sounding slightly stunned.

She hadn't quite gotten over that little fact. Actually, the whole idea she was living in an underground environment- living in an actual cave- was still a shocker to the young girl.

"Everything's built into the walls down here, Pix. Kind of a running theme," Aisling said over her shoulder, "You should really get use to it. Sounding like that is only going to make everyone know you're new here."

Pixie nodded her understanding of both points.

It made a sort of, kind of sense to the young girl. Everything here seemed to be built from a combination of organic and inorganic. The rocks and metal of the walls met and worked with the children standing along the ramp. Here and there, Pixie noticed, some of the others standing were products of the strange organic-inorganic combination. She herself could be placed in that group for she bore the metallic plugs in her arms and legs.

Inorganic metal fused into organic flesh and bone.

As for the sounding like she was new, Pixie was still working through her own shock. She figured it would, eventually, wear away like anything else she thought she knew from the Matrix. Amazement would fade into something like a dull sense of knowledge. It would all be mundane and normal, though Pixie hoped that would never happen. Part of her always wanted to be amazed by the world she had the privilege of living in.

The trio walked along the ramp, an occasional glance thrown in their direction. They weren't unfriendly glances or anything else. Just curious or ones that held a passing interest in the trio that was passing them. A look to see whether or not they were parts of their group.

"Hey, Pix, is that you?" someone called, from behind the group as he or she came up the entrance ramp.

Running up the ramp, trying his best to catch up with the trio was a shabbily dressed youngish looking boy with messy, dirty blond hair. Well, what could creatively be called hair at the moment. It covered his scalp and was growing in a bit of a disarray.

"Friend of yours?" Adoh asked, with a laugh.

Then again, most everything made Adoh laugh. He was just one of those people who found everything funny and seemed to enjoy making other people laugh. Unlike his older sister who just looked at the boy oddly, as if trying to figure out just who he belonged to and if she knew him from someplace. With an overly friendly brother, it was hard to tell, sometimes, who knew the two of them and who didn't.

For a moment, Pixie was confused, unsure of who this person was and how he could know her name. She hadn't talked to very many people in the school so she wasn't sure how anyone knew her name. She wasn't really even one to answer questions in class so having her named called out wasn't exactly something that happened a lot either.

Then he smiled and she knew who he was. Realization struck her like a lightening bolt out of the dead sky. It was the same smile she recalled from the orphanage during her first days in Zion. It was something strangely familiar given the fact she'd only known the owner of said smile for a short period of time. Well, "known" in the real sense of the word anyway.

"Wheeler!" she squealed, lowering her tone when she saw a few eyes glancing in her direction, "He and I use to know each other in the matrix or however that works."

"Did you finally get out of there?" he questioned excitedly.

Once he had left the orphanage, Wheeler had tried to figure out where Pixie had wound up. Things proved difficult, though, as he became involved in trying to catch up with school work and getting use to living in Zion. He figured the Academy was the best place to find Pixie and, now, luck was finally on his side.

"Me? Just a few days ago. This lady named Rain came down and adopted me. Now I live with her and her son. How about you? Where did you go?" Pixie babbled.

There was something strangely comfortable about finding one of her old friends again. Especially one she'd gotten along with so well. Now it would just be nice if she could find Hawk and Chian too.

"An older woman named Natasa adopted me. Her husband is the mechanic or something for the _Icarus_. Who are your friends?" he answered.

The twins introduced themselves to Wheeler, Aisling asking, "You're a pod born, too?"

Wheeler looked confused for a moment, unsure how to answer that question. Then again, he'd spent much of the past few days confused. Not entirely his fault, thought. This place, this situation, was far different than the one he had come from.

Plus his normal "constant" was not present in this world. There didn't seem to be baseball in Zion. Not baseball as he knew it anyway with a diamond and three bases- Well four if you counted home plate- and the lonely island that was the pitcher's mound. He'd spent a great deal of his young life making his home on that lonely island. It was probably one of the few places in the Matrix where Wheeler had been truly comfortable.

"Pod born? You know, have plugs and stuff," Adoh explained, giving Wheeler an incredulous look and mumbling something to himself about confused pod borns.

"Oh yeah, I guess that's me," Wheeler, sheepishly, admitted with a shrug.

"I wouldn't broadcast that fact too loudly, guys," Aisling warned, "some of us aren't all that happy your guys are around. I'm sure you guys know how that is. Friendly rivalries and all."

"Wait a second, what do you mean by that?" Pixie questioned, stopping dead in the center of the walkway and trying to plant her feet.

Aisling sighed and pulled the pod born female to the side of the railing. Apparently, she was stronger than Pixie had given her credit for.

Wheeler and Adoh followed suit, tailing after their friend and sister respectively. This was something the pod born by was going to have to hear eventually. It would be easier this was instead of the pair learning it through experience.

"Look, there are some of my kind who aren't too keen on your kind. They feel you guys have it easier and get the best jobs on the ships and council and stuff," Aisling explained, her voice a hissed whisper.

Adoh, trying not to scare Pixie and Wheeler, quickly added, "It's nothing that's like tearing Zion apart or anything. We all get over it eventually. I think it's just based on the fact you guys can take accelerated classes if you get out of the Matrix when you're older and want to start work sooner."

Adoh's words, though, went unheeded as Pixie, self consciously, tried to check if the large plug in the back of her head was covered by the scraggly hair on her head. She noted, off to her side, Wheeler pulling a ratty black bandana out of his pant's pocket and tying it around his head. She had to bite her lip to stop from smiling.

"Our friends aren't like that, though," Adoh continued, "We have plenty of pod borns in our group. We like you guys because you're smart…help us Zion born kids with the confusing stuff."

Aisling shook her head and mumbled something causing her brother to blush. She beckoned Wheeler and Pixie to follow her the length of the walkway, to a location near the front of the gate.

There was a group of people- her group of people- standing there. Actually, they gathered there most days. It was, sort of, "their" spot. Their unofficial meeting place in the world that was Zion's Academy.

"Can I add two more to the group?" Aisling questioned the strapping, dark skinned boy who had been leaning up against the gate in front of the Academy.

He was the picture of relaxation, looking as if nothing in the world could bother him. He seemed nonplused by Aisling's question, shrugging his broad shoulders as an answer to her question.

"As long as he can add two more too," the dark skinned boy retorted, pointing to a smiling Hispanic boy wearing a tank top instead of a sweater, "It's only fair if Aisling gets to bring people into our little circle without clearing it first."

The dark skinned boy, again, shrugged but smiled. To Pixie, who was standing just off of Aisling's left shoulder, it seemed he and Aisling were the people "in charge" of this little group. They were, in a way, ringleaders for what looked to be a close knit group of friends.

"Well, the more the merrier I say," Ailsing stated with a smile, "Guys, this is Pixie and Wheeler."

"Fresh to us from the power plant. Delivered right to Zion's docks," Adoh added, causing an Asian looking girl across the circle from him to giggle, loudly.

Names and faces washed over Pixie. This time though- unlike the names and faces she has encountered the day she was unplugged- Pixie found she could keep them straight. The relaxed, dark skinned boy, a head and a half taller than Pixie with braids in his hair and eyes as black as coal, introduced himself as Obi. Next to him was a tiny girl with mousy colored hair and light hazel eyes. In a squeaky, high pitched voice, she informed the new members of the group her name was Philomel. The smiling Hispanic boy, dark of hair and eye, was introduced as being named Tuor. The final member of the group, the Asian girl who had laughed at Adoh's comment, stated her name as Ngaio.

"Tuor and Ngaio are pod borns, like you two," Philomel squeaked, "there, already something in common."

"I think I remember you," the Asian girl stated, looking at Pixie, "You're the girl that guy kept trying to get a hold of and you kept getting away from him."

Pixie blushed bright red and stared at her booted feet. During their stay at the orphanage, she had been put through her paces by Hawk who wanted to claim her as his own. She had put up a strong resistance, aided by her hacker friends from the Matrix.

"Yeah, that's me," she admitted, "but I'm just friends with that guy. Well, I think I am anyway."

She heard Wheeler make a sound at her side. He and Hawk, despite Pixie's best efforts to get the two males to play nicely with each other, were not ever going to be friends. They were just too different in every possible way. Of course, Wheeler decided to befriend Pixie in the orphanage and hide her from Hawk when he was being overbearing hadn't helped the cause any either.

"Who are the other two you wanted to let in Tuor?" Aisling questioned, mentally noted to have Pixie tell her the entire story about the orphanage and how she knew the scruffy boy next to her.

"These two," he said, moving aide and pointing for two boys to join the circle.

With a gasp, Pixie realized she recognized one of the boys. Everything about him, including the pseudo-friendly smile, was well known to her. The other was still very much a mystery with a sheepishly shy smile and very red ears.

"That's Hawk and that's Mouse," Tuor said, pointing each male in kind.

Wheeler bristled at Pixie's side, though shocked expression was just about the same in meaning. Of all the people she could run into in Zion's Academy, it had to be Hawk.

Hawk looked as if he was about to say something when the gates outside the Academy creaked open. Bottlenecked in the entrance ramp, people started to push their way into the hallway. Pixie crowded far closer with the others, her friends new and old, as they tried to get into the stone establishment. She felt someone put their hands on her shoulder and tried to guide her into the moving crowd.

A protest formed on her lips but was silenced when she say it was just Adoh. For a horrible moment, she had envisioned Hawk trying something here in the vast crowd.

As she was steered along, being bumped by hips and elbows and the occasional tattered satchel, Pixie realized what was absent from the entire situation. Crowds use to make her uneasy, causing her to become breathless and ill. Now, though, the people around were just other people, no longer threats.

Somewhere among the tightly packed crowd Pixie spotted Chian standing with a group of people who appeared to be about her age. She called a greeting and received a wave in reply. A bit ahead walked Kwan, looking rather uncomfortable as Angel had her arm around his waist, and Peanut with his usual sour expression.

She followed the flow of the crowd, trying to ignore the butterflies that had woken up in her stomach. In her head, she realized she was starting a new school in a new place in a not too normal situation.

"Hey, Pix" came a rumbling voice, "We're in here."

Standing in a stony doorway was Obi. He had been the one to flag the wandering Pixie down.

She fought her way back through the crowd, ducking under the tall dark skinned boy's arm.

"Is it ok if we call you Pix?" he asked, cautiously.

Pixie had never been one for nicknames, current name notwithstanding for she had come to think of herself as just Pixie. Well, Wheeler had started to call her "Pix" and she hadn't complained and Hawk called her, much to her chagrin, "Pixie Sticks." That was one nickname she had never liked.

Considering she had allowed Wheeler to refer to her as the former, she answered, "Perfectly fine."

"Good," the dark skinned boy stated, following Pixie into the makeshift classroom, "Let's find you a seat. I think I remember you sititng in the back most of the time."


	25. Children of the Revolution

AN: Welcome back my friends to the show that doesn't end! Actually, there's an ending but that's a while off, I guess. Anyway, sorry about the lateness of this update but I started school and I'm having the devil of the time with one of my professors. He's, actually, the best example of a nutty professor I've ever seen. Nutty right down to how he conducts the class. We spend most of the class in these little groups "discussing" a question and then presenting the answers to the teacher. Plus, he's a big fan of what I guess one could call "group homework." That is, he gives an assignment and everyone in the group has to do it and hand it in as one single group thing. Either way, I think I have this guy figured out and I'll try not to be late again. Anywho, enough about school, thanks for all the reviews and please, please, please feel free to tell me how you think I'm doing with this story….especially now. This is a bit off of my usual path and I'm not entirely sure how it really sounds. I appreciate all input- good, bad, or indifferent. Just let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"But you won't fool the Children of the Revolution  
No you won't fool the Children of the Revolution  
No, no..." (from "Children of the Revolution" by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer)

"I really dislike this class…it's totally not fair that he's going to keep testing us on this until we all can do it. It's not like we're going to need it in everyday life. I mean, who in their right mind is going to ask about this stuff! Not when you can find a Pod Born with this stuff downloaded into their heads," Aisling whined, as she slumped out of one of the class room's in Zion's Academy, dragging her battered school satchel behind her.

Those following behind her didn't look any better. All were wearing bone tired expressions that seemed to be laced with just a hint of sadness. Not the kind of sadness that forced someone to cry. More like the kind of sadness that came from trying to do something and then realizing that you failed at it.

Probably an all too common expression for those filing out of Professor Huygens- That was what he insisted his students call him. None knew if that was his title from the Matrix or not. - mathematics class. Every student wandered out of the room looking as if they wanted to burst into tears. Those who didn't look that way looked like they were completely prepared to give the older mathematics teachers a good piece of their mind.

"I think," ventured Pixie, her voice not exactly audible over the din of students on their way home for the day, "he just wants us to be prepared in case we're someplace and we need this sort of math and there's no Pod Born around."

She shrugged her shoulders, and went back to the study of the people around her. Pixie was just offering her opinion but was more than willing to accept the fact that it was, really, just her opinion. Everyone had their own opinions and had a right to express them. It was the prerogative of those around them whether or not they wanted to actually take the opinion to heart.

"Easy for you to say, you're a Pod Born," Aisling snapped, obviously in one of her bad moods, "this stuff can just be downloaded into your head one day. The rest of us actually have to learn this trash. I don't even know what in the world that old grouch is talking about half the time."

There was murmur of agreement in the small crowd of students that walked together towards the exit of Zion's Academy. Much to Pixie's eternal surprise, not all of her newfound friends- Maybe not friends but allies- were in every one of her classes. Most of the time they were together, true, but there were certain classes in which they were not. Mathematics was one such class.

Sitting in the torture chamber that was Professor Huygens classroom- because, even during her time in the Matrix, Pixie had no love for math and numbers even though she loved puzzles- with her were Aisling and her twin brother, Ngaio, Wheeler, and Hawk. Needless to say, none of them were wearing smiles as they left the room and made their way towards the exit.

"You did hear the old goat, right?" Ngaio asked, "He did say someone passed the exam."

"I heard him," Adoh concurred, "Someone passed well enough to ruin the curve on the exam. Whatever that means."

"I think that means you'd better study more because aren't curves going to be on the next exam?" Hawk asked.

With a waggle of his eyebrows- A move that made Aisling visibly wretch and Ngaio shake her head- he added, "Really, I'd rather be studying other curves and not the ones that involve numbers. How about you guys? Care for a little science study?"

Adoh stammered something, looking vaguely embarrassed at Hawk's suggestion. Maybe he was afraid that if he, actually, answered the other male, all he would earn was a smack upside the head from his twin sister. That would have been embarrassing to say the least. Though Adoh did like to make jokes and kid around with people, he wasn't really keen on embarrassing himself in front of others. There was nothing fun or funny about that.

Wheeler just shook his head but said nothing else. He wasn't really going to quantify Hawk's rude comment with a retort of his own. However, he did notice, out of the corner of one bright hazel eye that Pixie looked distinctly put off by Hawk's comment. Her face had flushed a bright red and she seemed to be on the verge of hysterics. That seemed strange to him…the fact Hawk was not embarrassed by what he said but Pixie was.

"Can we get back to the subject at hand here?" Aisling commented, breaking the tension that was radiating between Hawk and Wheeler and, to a lesser extent, Adoh.

"What was the subject anyway?" Hawk wanted to know, confused.

"The fact someone passed the exam," Wheeler reminded Hawk with another shake of his head.

A shake that earned a small laugh from Pixie. Actually, she'd gotten very giggly at the moment. Almost like she was trying to hide something and was doing a very poor job of hiding it. Then again, in the short time he had come to know the girl, she seemed completely unable to tell convincing lies.

Her inability to tell convincing lies was a fact he learned when Chian had tried to teach the lot of them to play a card game very much like poker from the Matrix as they whiled away the hours in the Orphanage. Whenever Pixie had to bluff, she's start to laugh and blush. Not that he was any great shakes at bluffing either but he was far better at it than Pixie.

Actually, the one that had done the best with bluffing was Hawk much to Wheeler's nonsurprise. For someone who had withheld knowledge from a student and a friend, lying didn't really seem like something too far away. Sort of the next small step really.

"Big deal….someone passed Professor Huygens exam and ruined it for the rest of us. It's not like he's going to count this exam anyway. He told me that if we do really well on the next one this grade doesn't count," Hawk retorted.

"Actually," Pixie brought up in a smallish voice because she really wasn't keen on getting involved in the proceedings, "he said that he was going to average the two grades out. You still have to pass with a really high mark in order to get a good grade."

"What about the person who did pass?" Ngaio wanted to know, directing her question towards Pixie.

"Ngaio's got a point. What about the person who did pass? If he or she does really well on the make-up exam, they could get some massively high grade and still ruin the curve for the rest of us," Adoh agreed.

"Or," Hawk added, with a malicious grin and an almost maniacal laugh, "they could royally mess up and bring their grade down to something worse than what any of us got on the test."

"I highly doubt that. If they've got brains enough to pass once, they can pass again," Aisling stated, "it's the rest of us that can cause permanent harm to our grades by not passing with a really high mark like Pixie said."

"We're just going to have to study more or harder or something," Wheeler stated, as the group started down the school's entrance- now exit- ramp, "I know I am because I don't understand a single thing about this math."

"Didn't you have math when you were in the Matrix?" Adoh wanted to know.

"Nothing like this," Wheeler answered, "at least not in my school. I can't speak for Hawk, Pix, or Ngaio, though. Maybe they had this stuff."

"Don't look at me," Ngaio stated, as all eyes turned on her in the hopes she could help them out, "I never studied this in my old Matrix schools. I did just as poorly as the rest of you and I like math!"

Eyes, now increased by two because of Ngaio's own, turned towards Pixie and Hawk. Obviously, the hopes of their friends rested on them. They were looking for a solution to the predicament they had all found themselves in. One that seemed to require a good bit of team work to get them out of.

"I can't help you. My thing was computers not this stuff. I know I'm smart and all but not this kinda smart. Now you want me to break down and fix a computer…I can do that. You want me to get you a date…I can do that. Maybe not you, Wheeler, because I don't know too many girls who like boys who play games that involve someone hitting from both sides of the plate. This I can't do," Hawk stated, laughing as if his words were a joke.

Pixie too, though she really didn't like having to do it, had to dash her friends' hopes. At least that's what she figured she was going to have to do.

"I'm a confirmed number-phobic. I don't even like looking at this stuff. It gives me headaches," she offered.

Aisling sighed and Adoh looked like a balloon that had deflated. Ngaio frowned and stared at a rock on the ground. Wheeler, simply, shrugged. This wasn't good…not good at all.

"You know what we need to do," Ngaio, spoke, breaking the sad silence that had fallen between the group of young people, "we need to find out who got the passing grade on the exam and ask them for help."

"Why….why would you that?" Pixie stammered, catching everyone off guard and earning herself a few curious stares.

Her face had started to tinge pink and, though she hardly ever spoke up, when she did, she never stammered. The young girl had pulled the cuffs of her battered, blue-gray sweater into the palms of her hands and was playing with the comfortably worn fabric.

To everyone, she looked nervous, almost scared, really, but no one could figure out why. Not that it was the pressing thing on their communal minds at the moment. There were other matters to attend to first before trying to puzzle out Pixie's strange behavior.

"So they can tell us what in the world Professor Huygens is going on about. Maybe like play tutor or something," Ngaio answered, still giving Pixie a curious look.

"I like that idea but there's just one little problem, Ngaio. We have no idea who passed the exam. Professor Huygens refused to say, remember!" Aisling reminded her friend.

True, Ngaio's idea was a wonderful one and was, probably, the answer to their prayers but it was not well thought out. To protect the single passing student from pestering classmates, Professor Huygens had not divulged the individual's name. No matter how many times they asked, each student was denied.

The old man just informed them that they were to work things out on their own and study for an exam the following week. There would be no review sessions this time nor would there be extra material to work on. There would be nothing save the corrected exam they had all been given.

"Maybe if we ask around the class, we can find out. Someone's bound to know," Adoh offered as a suggestion, "I know almost everyone in the class anyway."

"That could take a while, though, and we only have a week. It would be nice if we knew like today," Aisling sighed, "that way we can get to work."

Back and forth, the group batted ideas around, trying to figure out how best to discover the passing student's identity. Almost everyone seemed to have one idea or another. Some were good…some were bad…and a small minority were mildly outrageous and involved cornering and threatening old Professor Huygens.

"What about you, Pixie Sticks? You have any ideas? You gotta because you're always thinking about something?" Hawk asked, trying to include Pixie in the conversation.

Pixie had not said two words since the others had started trying to formulate a plan. All she'd done was turn progressively redder in the fact and try to avoid making eye contact with anyone. At the moment, she was still avoiding everyone's eyes. Her brandy brown eyes were firmly fixed on the tops of her boots while her fact seemed to grow redder and redder with each passing moment.

"Pix," Aisling wanted to know, "what did you get on the exam? I don't think you said when any of us asked in class."

"I….I…did as badly as you guys," Pixie stammered, forcing the words out and looking distinctly nervous, "I should really be going. Rain'll wonder where I am."

"You're the one who passed, aren't you?" Ngaio exclaimed, "You have to be! That's why you didn't say anything before! You passed the exam!"

Pixie shook her head, trying to deny her friend's exclamation, but her face revealed the lie. Between the blushing complexion, the fact she almost refused to make eye contact with anyone else, and the fact she seemed distinctly nervous and almost guilty, everyone within a ten mile radius knew Pixie was not telling the truth.

"You little sneak. You were going to let us suffer just because you didn't want to say that you passed," Aisling stated, with some humor in her voice.

"I didn't really do all that well….really I didn't. I just sort of got lucky, that's all. It was all just dumb luck. I'm not all that smart to being with. I just got lucky," Pixie babbled.

"Not smart, my foot," Aisling commented, "You're the smartest one out of all of us. Even if you just got luck you still know something. Now, you have to share what you know with the rest of us."

"But I'm not really that smart," Pixie insisted, "There are plenty of people smarter than me who could help you. Get one of the upper classmen to help you. I'm sure they could do a better job than me. I'd feel badly if I helped you and all of you still did poorly."

She gave her friends a plaintive look, almost begging them to let her off. Pixie knew she should help them- because they were her friends and were, obviously, in need- but she really felt she wasn't the right person to help them. They were looking for someone smarter than she was, better at the subject matter, and did not have an unhealthy fear of anything math related.

"I trust you, Pix," Wheeler stated, "I'll take whatever help you're willing to give and I won't blame you if I still do badly. I'd just appreciate the help. Right, guys?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement from the gathered group. Anything, really, to get what help they could.

Pixie made a few small sounds in the back of her throat and shifted from foot to foot. Her hands still played with the cuffs of her sweater and her eyes still held a frightened look. She really, did appear not to want to help them just because she feared they'd blame her if they still did poorly.

After all, she, herself, was just an average student who had a touch of dumb luck sometimes and was fairly good with puzzles. So long as the puzzles didn't have numbers in them.

"Well, that settles it!" Aisling commented with a clap of her hands, "Pixie's going to share her secrets with us. What's say we all go back to Rain's and get to work."

"Alright," was all Pixie could mutter as they all headed for the elevator that would take them up to Pixie's adopted mother's home, "I'll see what I can do to help you guys."

"Thanks, Pix," Wheeler commented, giving Pixie a friendly sort of smile.

A smile she returned in a small way as her face started to turn back to its normal pasty white. A smile that earned Wheeler a glowering look from Hawk.


	26. Summer, Highland Falls

AN: Hiya all! Welcome back to another installment of my misadventure. I hope everyone's having a grand old time in whatever weather you're having at the moment. Here in the Big Apple, we're just getting over a very large snowstorm. The news said it was like the biggest storm in the past ten years. Exciting, no? Actually, blizzards are fun until you have to walk in the aftermath of one. Then all you have is slush, dirty water, and dirty snow. Not exactly the best stuff to trudge through when trying to get to school and even worse when you're trying to trudge home with wet socks! Anywho, enough about the Big Apple Blizzard of '06! Thank you for your reviews! I really, really do appreciate them! Quite frankly, you guys are the best and I'm always shocked to discover someone's reading the story I wrote just to pass the time. Please, please, please let me know how I'm doing…especially now because I'm not all that adept at writing even the most pseudo romantic things. This just sort of wandered into my story without me even realizing it! Please let me know how I'm doing….good, bad, or indifferent!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"They say that these are not the best of times  
But they're the only times I've ever known  
And I believe there is a time for meditation  
In cathedrals of our own  
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes  
And I can only stand apart and sympathize  
For we are always what our situations hand us  
It's either sadness or euphoria" (From "Summer, Highland Falls" by Billy Joel)

It was one of those universal rules. A rule that, no matter where one was and the situations one found him or herself in, never, ever changed. It probably couldn't change, even, because, if it did, in all likelihood, bad things would happen to the universe as a whole.

Time, naturally, causes change. If time didn't cause change and the world remained static, well, things would never evolve. Children would never grow and change and discover their purposes in life. People would just go about their daily lives, repeating the same routines day after day. That is, if the universe managed to survive long enough because even something as unfathomable as the universe requires a little change every now and then.

Change wasn't always something beneficial, though, as change caused people to drift apart. As people learned and grew, they tended to change and sometimes those changes forced them out of comfortable situations and away from old friends.

Such was life and even in the Real World, among a tiny group of teenagers, Zion and Pod Born, that rule applied.

Two and a half years had passed- It seemed like an eye blink to her and was a shock when Rain pointed out to her one idle day as she sat and did homework- since Pixie's coming to the Real World and the group she had once been allies with had disbanded slightly. It was just the natural evolution of things but it bother Pixie just a bit as she was still getting use to the idea of even having a group of allies of her own.

Mouse had been the first to go. The boy- whose ears seemed to be a perennially red color- had shown an aptitude for programming everything from simple games to larger more complex things. That skill had caught the attention of a group of programmers Adoh called "digital pimps." Aisling had whacked him upside the head for that comment but she explained to the clueless Pixie and Wheeler that it was, basically, a group of boys and a handful of girls who were exceedingly good a programming human forms. Forms so lifelike that people might pay to spent a little time with them in whatever program they chose.

More and more time, Mouse began to spend with this renegade group. Less and less, he could be found with Pixie and the others. Soon, his ties were severed completely. Still, he was always one to wave and call out a greeting if he saw Pixie- or any of them really- in the hallway.

Obi had been drafted, and not by the fleet. The dark skinned boy expressed no interest in becoming a rebel operator. His heart was not in the fact he would have to stay behind while his friends died in the Matrix. The fact he couldn't do anything to directly help bothered him greatly. He preferred to take a role in the running of Zion and the council had noticed that preference.

A change in schedule, so that he was beyond busy, had prevented him from spending time with the others. Well, that and the massive fight he had with Hawk- Revolving around Hawk "informing" Obi that he had a "holier than thou" complex- had caused him to distance himself.

Much to everyone's surprise Philomel and Tuor became an odd couple. A massive fight with Aisling- culminating in Philomel accusing the other girl of being jealous- had caused the pair to leave in a huff.

Still, a few of them remained tied together by something like friendship and a mutual need to stay in some sort of group. Maybe it was just a case of safety in numbers or something like that but Pixie gained some measure of comfort from being able to call herself a very quiet part of a rather noisy group.

At the moment, during a lunch break in a wide, noisy, rock-and-metal, mess hall that passed as a lunchroom, the remainder of the group sat around a battered metal table. It was one of those funny things but everyone sat in the same seats day after day. The seats were not assigned by any means but, still, everyone sat in the same places.

Pixie was working with Wheeler, helping him with some type of evil looking math despite Pixie's protests that she was lousy at math. The pair was laughing as they tried to eat and work at the same time. They were, actually, accomplishing the task pretty well with as much eating as work getting done.

Ngaio had busied herself with some essay she was suppose to have done and put on a disk the night before. She claimed she'd forgotten to do it but everyone knew otherwise. The Asian girl had no love for history and that she always left history homework for the last minute.

The twins were doing what brother and sister do best, making life miserable for the other. At the moment, their ranting seemed to revolve around a Zion born boy Aisling had her eye on. Adoh found that fact highly amusing and was trying to get his twin sister to own up to her feelings. Aisling, though, was not having any of it. She was being as stubborn as she was about anything else and had tried to swat her brother in the back of the head on many occasions.

Hawk just sat back, taking everything in with a mischievous gleam in his eye. He had been working with Pixie, too, but he wasn't too keen about having her help Wheeler at the same time. In the two and half years that had elapsed, Hawk's feelings and attitudes towards Wheeler hadn't improved any.

If his attitude towards Pixie had changed, the young girl really hadn't noticed. This was despite the fact Aisling was constantly telling her Hawk suffered from something she called "I love you….you're prefect….now change!" when it came to Pixie. That probably explained, in Aisling's words, why he was always on Wheeler's case and why he was always commenting on Pixie's hair or clothes.

Pixie wasn't sure she believed Aisling so she took her words with a grain of salt. True Hawk was always on her case about why she kept growing her hair out or why she dressed a certain way but that was just how Hawk was. Nothing to it really.

"You know, Pixie Sticks, you should cut that mop of yours," Hawk stated, out the blue.

Pixie's head snapped up from her work with Wheeler a slight frown on her face.

Her hair had been the topic of much conversation and debate. It had gotten long enough- nearly to the small of her back - to make her very happy. Not getting haircuts for a very long while had seen to it's growing out. That and Pixie's hair seemed to grow just a bit faster than other's hair. At least, that was what Rain told her one day as she spotted Pixie braiding her hair.

Problem was, everyone seemed to think her having long hair was a very bad thing. They said it was just to hot to have hair that long. They said it was luxury she couldn't afford to have because it required care and time she might not have time to give it. Torrent, the ever helpful husband of Rain, had pointed out that her hair would prove a problem if she wanted to work on a ship. There'd be no way for her to "jack in" with hair that long.

Despite the fact she knew all their reasons to be valid ones, Pixie insisted on keeping her hair the way it was. The image of herself, the one created by the Matrix, had long hair and that was the image she was use to seeing. Without it, she was not herself because her image did not match the one in her head. If her hair got just a bit longer, then the images would match up quite nicely.

"Hawk, we've been through this more time then I'd care to think of. I'm not cutting my hair and that's final," she said with an annoyed sigh, "It's my hair!"

"Come on, don't be an idiot. Look at Ngaio, she has short hair," Hawk continued, as if Pixie's words had never been said.

"No offense meant, Ngaio, but I like my hair the way it is. Operative word being 'my,' in this case," Pixie bit back.

The Asian girl simply nodded her understanding of Pixie's words. The essay she'd been working on lay forgotten on the table. In kind, the others at the table turned their attention to the argumentative Hawk and Pixie, the object of his rage.

"While we're on the subject," he stated, with the air of someone who knew everything about the world, "you need to change the way you dress."

Pixie looked down, taking in her clothing. Like most others in the vast room, she wore heavy boots and black pants. For a top she wore a tight faded shirt of some undetermined color under a faded sage green sweater. She, as she'd done in the Matrix, dressed for comfort. Besides, there was not real fashion in Zion. Not to the degree that there was in the Matrix anyway.

"What do you mean, Hawk?" Pixie questioned, honestly confused.

For a moment, she'd thought she knew where this whole conversation was going. Now, though, she was a little lost. Hawk usually brought up her hair or her clothes but never both at the same time.

"Look at them and look at you. That should be explanation enough," Hawk answered his tone calm and collected.

He gestured, vaguely, to the two other girls sitting at the table. His motion was off handed in a way, as if he couldn't be bothered with Pixie and her menial inquiries.

They were dressed in much the same fashion as Pixie. Black pants and boots. Shirts of faded hues. They chose to wear tank tops instead of the sweaters Pixie was much more comfortable wearing. In the heat, the tank tops made more sense but the sweaters were baggy enough not to be stifling. That was Pixie's argument, anyway. That and she was just plain comfortable in her sweaters.

"Hawk, can you please get to the point and enlighten poor stupid me?" Pixie asked, in a syrupy sweet voice...a fake voice.

A voice that seemed to hold the very edge of a dangerous threat. It was a small edge, barely noticeable unless one was looking for it.

"Pixie Sticks, you're just a silly little girl who needs to grow up. Maybe when you do, you'll find someone as great as I am will take an interest in you," he said, puffing out his chest and staring Pixie squarely in the eyes, "You need to cut that hair and start showing some skin. No one is ever going to like you looking like a twelve year old with that horrible long hair and those baggy clothes."

Pixie couldn't believe her ears. She had to be hearing wrong. She had always thought Hawk to be on her side, her friend on occasion, when he wasn't scheming on someone else. But how was he her friend if he wanted her to change who and what she was?

Maybe Aisling, someone she'd known for fewer years, was right. Maybe…just maybe.

"How can you say something like that to her? She's your friend, isn't she?" Adoh asked, standing up and facing Hawk.

Adoh's actions caught everyone else by surprise. Adoh was the one to make jokes and to make everyone crack a smile even after the hardest days in school. He wasn't, however, the tough one. That was more his sister's department because Adoh without a joke and a smile wasn't Adoh.

The other boy just laughed, a cold, hollow sound, and pointed out, "See, Pixie Sticks, this is all you're going to get. Someone who is as dorky and useless as you are. Just another fool."

Tears, unbidden and unwanted, sprang to Pixie's eyes. Adoh was her friend, a great friend, one of the first she had in Zion. One of the first she had made on her own without a computer between them. To see him shot down as Hawk had done broke her heart.

Before anyone else could get hurt because of her, Pixie bolted from the room. Though she'd tried to prevent it, everyone had seen the tears in her eyes.

It was the tears that angered Wheeler most. He'd never said anything to Hawk because he was Pixie's friend and he valued Pixie's friendship because of the ties they had from the Matrix. Now, though, Wheeler couldn't sit idly by anymore.

"See what you did. Are you proud of yourself? You're a big man who just made someone who thought she was your friend break down. You know, she stayed alive because of you. That's what she told me once when we talked in the Matrix. She fought to keep herself alive because she wanted to believe you were coming back for her. If I ever treated anyone who did that for me like you just did I'd be ashamed of myself. Why would you do that to her?" Wheeler spat, anger in his voice.

He stood up, standing just a few inches over Hawk. The difference between the pair, though, was striking. Wheeler had been a pitcher in the Matrix and, despite the transition to the Real World, retained much of that form. He was strong, and athletic looking. Generally not fearsome looking because he was rather friendly and his hair almost always flopped in his eyes.

Hawk wasn't, to say the least. He was reedy and had never really grown out of the fact he looked like his joints were held together by rubber bands. Though his name was avian, there was something distinctly snake like about him.

"She got what was coming to her. Someone had to tell her the truth. If you want to side with her, you're just as bad as she is," Hawk stated in a fake lax voice.

He hadn't expected Wheeler to come to Pixie's aid. He also hadn't expected Wheeler to be so, well, fierce. After all, Wheeler had never said anything to him no matter how often Hawk baited him. Hawk just figured Wheeler didn't get angry. Probably was too stupid to realize he was being made fun of.

Wheeler was furious but tried not to let that overwhelm him. Something else was boiling just under his anger...a feeling he wasn't expecting. He was far more concerned with Pixie's whereabouts and her safety at the moment. He didn't like the fact she'd gotten hurt but he didn't know why.

It was a feeling he ascribed to the fact he had a younger brother when he was in the Matrix. Though he had no siblings now, Wheeler had taken Pixie under his protection. It was a purely platonic thing. Plus it just seemed right that he'd be angry at the person who'd hurt the feelings of one of his friends.

"If we're so uncool, why are you still standing here with us?" Aisling spat, trying to keep her brother in check, "Don't you have someplace better to be?"

Adoh might have been the annoying bane of her existence but, at the end of the day, he was still her little brother. As his big sister, by two whole minutes, it was her job to protect him. Even if that meant wounding his fledgling ego for a little while. He'd get over it, she was sure of that.

"You know what, she's got a point. Why am I standing here with you jack less, jacked in freaks?" Hawk considered, loudly.

He picked his metallic tray up from the table and stalked into the milling crowd leaving a confused set of figures in his wake.

For a moment, nobody moved or even breathed. People, other students, passed by staring as if they were some kind of human wreck. All were too stunned and the sudden and violent departure Hawk chose to make.

"Someone should go find Pixie," Aisling brought up, still trying to keep her twin under wraps.

Adoh was trying his best to slip out of her grips and follow Hawk into the crowd. She wasn't going to allow that to happen mostly because she didn't want to have to explain to their mother why her son had come home in trouble and half beaten up.

"I'll go," Wheeler volunteered, "but if she's in one of the bathrooms, I'm coming back for one of you. I'm not touching that one!"

A forced laugh, the aim of his comment, was all her received from the two girls sitting at the table. Wheeler darted off, heading in the general direction he had last seen Pixie go.

Though he knew it wasn't likely, Pixie appeared to have disappeared. She was no where to be found and everyone he spoke to said they hadn't seen anyone looking like her. Of course, they admitted not to be looking for her anyway.

Wheeler was about to give up, to go back and find an instructor and tell them one of the students had gone missing when he spotted what appeared to be a human sized lump near the entrance ramp.

Growing closer, the scruffy looking boy discovered that the human sized lump was indeed Pixie. The sweater and the hair, hanging around her sides like some kind of strange curtain, attested to that fact.

He knelt down next to the lump, fighting the urge to move her hair so he could talk to her face to face. The way she was breathing, ragged and harsh, showed Wheeler just how hard Hawk's words had hit her.

'Adoh and I scared him off you know," Wheeler said, softly, "He left so you can come back now."

Pixie lifted her head up, her eyes an angry red from crying. An intake of breath, shuddery in nature, was her only reply upon seeing Wheeler kneeling next to her.

"You didn't have to do anything for me," she stated, in a smallish voice.

"Yeah I did. Where I came from, fake or not, you never ever talk to a lady like that. It's rude, disrespectful, and would earn me a beating from my father or who ever that guy was," Wheeler answered.

"I'm not a lady. I'm not really much of anything," she mumbled, staring down at her knees, "I don't even know how you people stand hanging around with me."

Wheeler just shook his head sadly.

He knew Pixie had some confidence issues, to say the least. The best anyone could get her to admit to was being good with puzzles. Anything other than that, including schoolwork, was downplayed as just luck. She was sure there were people smarter than her, better than her.

Pixie might have been right, in general, but, to her small group of friends, she was one of the smartest people they knew. Getting her to see that was proving difficult to say the least.

"Pix, you know that's a flat out lie. We like hanging out with you no matter what you think you are. You're the smartest person I know and I'm sure the others would back me up. Look, Hawk wants to see you all upset and stuff and we can't have him see that. You're too good to let him see you crying and hurt by what he said," Wheeler explained, trying not to sound like he was lecturing the young girl.

For a moment, Pixie didn't do anything. She seemed to be almost considering Wheeler's words.

She, then, roughly rubbed her red eyes on the cuff of her battered sweater.

"He never gets to win. Never ever does he get to win," Pixie mumbled to herself, though Wheeler heard her and smiled.

"Ready to go face your real friends? You know, us people who would ever treat you like that," Wheeler asked, helping Pixie to her feet.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Pixie said around a sigh.

"And so we'll argue and we'll compromise  
And realize that nothing's ever changed  
For all our mutual experience  
Our separate conclusions are the same  
Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity  
Our reason co-exists with our insanity  
So we choose between reality and madness  
It's either sadness or euphoria

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies  
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies  
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives  
With our respective similarities  
It's either sadness or euphoria" (From "Summer, Highland Falls" by Billy Joel)


	27. Behind These Hazel Eyes

AN: "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends….we're so glad you could inside, come inside…" That's from a song by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer called "Karn Evil 9" and it was used last spring as the theme song to my Girl Scout Troop's "talent" show. That's neither here nor there, though. I just sort of wanted to borrow that lyric for a bit because they aid it best when welcome people! Anyway, I hope everyone's having a good time in school or on Midwinter Recess, depending on your circumstances. I'm in school, now, because, alas, I don't go on any sort of recess until Spring break and I'm not even sure when that is this year. I do, however, know I have a Developmental Biology exam next Tuesday and a Cell Biology exam the following week. I guess, in a way, it's time for midterms for me. At least I don't have a midterm in my other class. That's due, mostly, to the fact I have a paper due in that class at the end of the semester and a presentation in front of the class due at the end of April. I'm not looking forward to the presentation because I'm one of those people who fears talking in front of the room more than anything else in the world. Anywho, back to the matters at hand! Thanks for all the reviews on my little misadventure through the Matrix and Zion. Please, please, please, keep them coming. I really find getting any reviews for anything I write a really big surprise! Keep them coming and let me know how I'm doing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Here I am,  
Once again,  
I'm torn into pieces,  
Can't deny it,  
Can't pretend,  
Just thought you were the one,  
Broken up deep inside,  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry,  
Behind these hazel eyes…" ("Behind these Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson)

It had been a scant few days since Hawk's verbal attack on Pixie. They were the longest few days, in her mind, since her coming to Zion. A lot of what Hawk had told her was still ringing through her head, bothering her despite the fact everyone said not to listen to him. He was just being cruel and trying to hurt her. A fact that was still making the usually calm Adoh mad.

According to Aisling, Adoh was claiming he was going to kick Hawk's rear end next time he saw him. That was the strange thing, though, as Pixie hadn't seen hide nor hair of Hawk, though she had a sneaking suspicion that he was going out of his way to avoid her.

Not because he was afraid of her, not by any means was that the reason. She wasn't the most formidable of opponents in her own estimation and- Pixie was nearly sure of this.- in Hawk's mind. It seemed more like he was afraid of the person who always seemed to be standing next to or behind her at any give moment. A familiar set of bright hazel eyes that seemed to constantly either watching out for her or looking for Hawk. Pixie wasn't sure which and she really didn't want to know.

That person with the familiar hazel eyes was Wheeler, her scruffy haired, once baseball playing hacker friend.

At the moment, though, all thoughts of Hawk and Wheeler were being driven out of Pixie's head as she was sitting in front of a vast monitor watching footage from the Zion archive. The footage was graphic, depicting the war between man and machine and the start of the matrix. She didn't want to seem too much like a little girl by winching every time something new came on the screen but Pixie was sure "Historical File 12-1: The Second Renaissance" ranked among the most vile and violent things she had ever seen.

"Hey, so you're the one with the disk. Can I share space with you? I really don't want to have to come back again. This is like the third time today," came a voice from behind her head.

Pixie put the disk on pause- or what she approximated pause to be- and tilted her head back. She wasn't sure who owned the voice but it sounded familiar to her. At this point, though, Pixie wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. She figured it was best to err on the side of caution, though, and check who was speaking to her.

"Pull up a chair," she offered, scooting her seat over a few inches.

The space was small but Pixie wasn't exactly the largest of people. It took some clever maneuvering but she managed to get her chair and the other chair in the same space at the same time.

"Thanks," Wheeler said with a relieved smile, "I wasn't really keen on coming back again only to find out someone else was watching this disk. How's it going?"

"Graphic," was all she responded with, starting the footage again with a very small frown on her face.

It took three viewings for the two Pod Borns to find the answers to the questions they had been given. Pixie spent most of it, trying to keep her mind coolly objective but found it increasingly difficult. It wasn't that she was disgusted by the actions of the machines against humanity- as reprehensible as those actions might have been.

Rather she was disappointed in her own race. How could the human race be so callus, so cruel, so flat out stupid to do something like that? Didn't they realize the repercussions on the ecosystem blotting out the sun might have? Apparently, in the future- or was it the past? Pixie wasn't quite sure because her own sense of year was skewed slightly.- scientists weren't really all that bright and they forgot simple things like food chains and environmental science.

"Can I see your answer for question three?" Wheeler asked, as the pair sat at a composite table that appeared to be held together by something very much like Matrix duct tape.

Pixie gave Wheeler a questioning look. She wasn't overly fond of just giving answers to other people. Helping was one thing and it was the only way one could get homework out of her. A big emphasis was placed on thinking for oneself where Pixie was concerned. She didn't just give away her answers though she was more than willing sometimes to help out anyone who needed her help. So long as that help didn't mean straight out copying of her answers.

"I have my own answer, see. I just wanted to see how you described that trial thing," Wheeler, quickly, added with a smile on his face.

"I wasn't going to say anything. I know you do your own work," Pixie said, shoving the small, handheld computer she was writing her assignment on across the table to Wheeler.

The pair worked together, trying to get the massive assignment completed. It only looked like there were four or five questions but, when every question had six or seven "sub-questions," it took a whole lot more time. More than that, Pixie and Wheeler both wanted to get every detail into their answers. Sometimes questions were answered by Pixie alone, sometimes by just Wheeler. More often than not, though, their answers were a composite of both their ideas.

At the next table, just behind the hardworking pair, was a noisy group. They'd arrived at some point but neither Pixie or Wheeler could say when as they were engrossed in their own work, too busy to notice. Where the archives had a library like atmosphere, these people wanted to make it as loud as the shopping district.

Pixie bristled as she recognized one of the voices. It was taking everything she had not to just get up and leave. Something was making her stay, though, no matter how much she wanted to leave. Probably the fact Pixie didn't want to just up and walk out on Wheeler. That seemed rather rude and Wheeler had been nothing but nice to her.

"I knew this one girl from here and the Matrix and she was all over me. I mean, I'd say jump and she's ask how high. I had this girl so wrapped around my little finger it wasn't funny," the recognizable voice bragged.

That was it….Pixie decided that she had to leave. The young girl could feel something like hot anger in her stomach while tears were racing to her eyes. She went to get up and leave, to head back to Rain's to do her homework in relative peace and quiet.

A hand on her own prevented her from doing so, stopped her from gathering her things and just leaving. Running away from something that bothered her and was, obviously, hurting her feelings.

"Don't let him get to you," Wheeler ordered, knowing the owner of the voice almost as well as she did, "sit here and help me out with this homework. Come on, Pix, I got a really good grade when you helped me last time."

Pixie fidgeted in her seat, caught between wanting to go where she could be left alone and wanting to help Wheeler. She decided that sitting was better than going. She had promised, herself, Hawk would never win. If she left, he would win this unspoken battle.

Plus, blushing ever so slightly, Pixie didn't want to leave Wheeler in a lurch. He'd been nothing but nice to her so running away wasn't exactly the best way to repay his kindness.

"So, how do you get this answer? You got it right and I didn't," Wheeler asked, loading up the last test the pair had taken in what amounted to math.

"It's not all that hard, once you get everything on the right side of the equation," Pixie stated, trying to blot out the sounds around her, "I mean, at least that's how I think it's done. I could be wrong, though, so don't go by me. Maybe I just got lucky or something."

"So, where's the girl now?" questioned someone from the table behind her.

"I had to cut her loose. She is what she eats...fast, cheap and easy," the recognized voice answered.

Crude laughter was all she heard from behind them. Laughter that really made her want to leave. Her mind was screaming at her for sitting there and listening to what the people behind her were saying. It was urging her to get up and go, not to sit and silently take whatever was being said.

"Come on, Pix," Wheeler urged, "I really don't get how to do this. You helped all of us pass that last test. I thought I knew this stuff but I guess I didn't really. Maybe you can explain it to me in words I can understand. You're good at that sorta stuff because you're so smart."

She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to keep herself calm. She could do this. She had to do this. What was he doing but telling lies about her. He was just upset, smarting from a bruised ego. Pixie knew that he was trying to make her hurt as much as he was hurting. True she was hurting but that was all inside, she'd never show it on the outside now. She'd cried enough on Rain's shoulder the past few days as her adopted mother tried to make her adopted daughter understand that Hawk was just being mean to her because she wouldn't go out with him

"Take these mumbers and signs and stuff and move them to the opposite side of the equal sigh because you need a zero to be able to use the formula he showed us. You know the formula, right?" she asked, sketching out the steps on her own handheld computer.

Wheeler's forehead wrinkled as he tried to pluck the errant formula from his unwilling memory. Unable to remember it, he just shook his head. That was probably why he'd done so poorly on the exam. He'd totally forgotten to use the formula they'd learned in class.

"Don't worry," Pixie stated, trying to keep calm, "I'll show you. It's easy once you get the formula down. I'm surprised I remembered it, actually, so don't feel too badly. I guess I just took the exam on a good day or something."

Obviously annoyed that his ploy wasn't causing her to break down in tears, beg for forgiveness, or run away, the voices at the other table started up again.

"So, what did you two do?" questioned a voice, "before you cut her loose."

In graphic detail, more graphic than the video Pixie and Wheeler had been watching, the recognizable voice spoke of things he claimed happened.

Things that the two working students knew were untrue and, as such, paid no mind to. Pixie knew the words were just that...words. Though everyone one of them stung like a slap she knew it was not a real kind of pain. She'd felt worse, survived worse.

"It's that easy. Man, I wish I was as smart as you to be able to figure something like that out," Wheeler stated, far louder then he should have.

There was a reason being the volume in his voice, though. A reason Pixie was easily able to discern. If the group sitting behind them wouldn't stop, they were going to play along with them. Of course, what they spoke of was going to be far different, far more positive than what the others were discussing.

Pixie ducked her head as her cheeks tinged red. Complements were not something she took very well in any sense of the word. A blush, like a port wine stain on a white rug, spread across her cheeks and a very shy smile crossed her face.

"You're pretty smart yourself. You just needed a little reminding," she said in a soft voice, "It's a tricky rule. I told you, I'm surprised I remembered it. I'm not very good with numbers."

"Would you and she ever hook up again?" questioned a voice from behind.

"Maybe not hook up like a couple again. Just when I'm bored and there aren't any others waiting on line for me," stated the recognizable voice.

Try as she might, Pixie could not stifle the small amount of laughter that bubbled out of her. Wheeler looked at her, hazel eyes wide. Laughing as the last thing he expected her to do in the situation. Actually, he wanted to give her credit for being as brave as she was being and sitting there with him. He was well aware of the fact Pixie's first inclination was to run away so no one else would get hurt.

She knew that no one was waiting on line to date- or whatever else he was planning on- with the owner of the voice. There hadn't ever been a line, actually. Just a very mistake opinion of one's self worth.

She knew he tried his hardest to appear as suave and debonair as any leading man but it was an ill fitting suit. He was a dirt bag by genetics and there was nothing anyone could do about that.

"What's funny?" Wheeler asked, obviously interested.

He had been watching her growing discomfort with their situation and had been caught off guard by the sudden change in emotions. Laughter was the last emotion he expected out of Pixie.

"Just that some things never change. He use to think of himself like that back in the Matrix. Disgusting really," she mused, "I don't really know why I ever bothered with him."

"Now that, Pix, is the smartest thing you've ever said. I wouldn't dwell on him if I were you," Wheeler advised, "it'll only bring you down. You've got friends who'll make sure to remind you of that just in case you ever forget."

"Well, I always said being unplugged as my second chance at life. Might as well not make the same mistakes twice," she said with a slight shrug, much to the annoyance of the party behind them.

"She's just another rat down here in Zion," stated the familiar voice.

"Um..buddy, there are no rats down here," said a deep voice.

"You get what I mean though, her kind are a dime a dozen. Easy to find and even easier to let go," the familiar voice said.

"Especially for you," someone quipped with an obvious mocking laugh.

"It's not my fault everyone can't be as great as I am," the familiar voice commented.

"How did you ever stand him," Wheeler quipped as he cleaned the table up, placing his own small computer and disks in the pockets of his black pants.

"I haven't the foggiest," Pixie answered, doing likewise, "Maybe it was because I really didn't have any friends to speak of, except you and the others on the computer but I guess that doesn't really count for much.

The two worked in relative silence for a few moments, the conversation behind them fading into an annoying but forgettable background hum.

"Maybe we can study for the next text together. I'm really not getting any of that new stuff they're calling math. It doesn't look like any kind of math I've ever seen before," Wheeler broached as the pair made their way out of the archives.

"I guess I could. We could ask all the others and make a thing of it. I don't think Rain would mind cooking for all of us. She's a good cook. You can ask Aisling and Adoh about that. Plus everyone could help everyone else because I'm not sure I understand any of it either," Pixie answered with a wide smile.

The offer and the smile were genuine. Rain had been asking to bring all her friends over, to study or to just hang around her home as was their want. After all, no matter what the circumstances, according to Rain anyway, they were just kids. That and Pixie had a sneaking suspicion she wanted to see all of Pixie's friends.

"That would be nice. It'll be fun," Wheeler commented, "Trust me."

Pixie spared a glance over her shoulder, as the pair exited the archives. The group was still sitting there, making as much noise as humanly possible and disturbing those working around them. She just shook her head sadly and left, wondering just how she could ever stand Hawk, the familiar voice in the group.

"I don't know," Pixie commented, more at ease in her heart and mind than she had been in days, "as long as I'm not the one getting yelled at by Aisling, then things will be fun."

She'd promised herself never to let Hawk win. Maybe, Pixie figured, she'd taken a small victory away from him. He'd struck the first blow but she, in a quiet way and with some help from someone she was starting to see as an actual friend, had gotten a small measure of retaliation. Just something small to remind Hawk that she wasn't going to sit by and allow his specter to ruin the life she had.

(AN: I know Pixie doesn't have hazel eyes but, if you think about it, the title and the song lyrics fit in a weird way. This about it this way, it's not about Pixie but more like what Pixie's thinking. Plus there's a certain individual who has hazel eyes floating around.)


	28. The Future Freaks Me Out

AN: Hey everyone! Here's my update, as promised! I had my Developmental Biology exam and now I have to get started on studying for my Cell Biology exam next Monday. Well, I guess that's what midterms are for and all. I don't mind studying and everything like that. The only thing I do mind about exams is the waiting just before the test to take it. Everyone in the room is trying to help everyone else and it seems like no one can agree on anything. Well, maybe except the idea to agree to disagree about everything that was said in any given lecture at any given time. Even between people who recorded the lectures, they argue about what the professor really means. Personally, I handwrite all my notes (because I actually feel like I'm learning something that way and it keeps me awake during really boring classes) and then rewrite them on index cards that I take with me everywhere I go before the test. That's just me though! Anyway, thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate your input on my little misadventure and they always come as a surprise to me whenever I get them! Please keep them coming! I really do appreciate them!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

" I'm on fire and now I think I'm ready to bust a move  
Check it out I'm rocking steady  
Go!" ("The Future Freaks Me Out" by Motion City Soundtrack)

If one thought about it, most days consisted of making one decision after another. Days were just about making choices and seeing where those choices took someone. Even the smallest of decisions- like what to eat in the morning- had some impact on the rest of the day.

Then again, no one made a big deal about the small decisions in life. Unless, of course, those decisions caused something bad to happen. Then they came into play. Generally, speaking, though, no one paid attention to them.

It was the big decisions- Those life altering ones everyone had to make at some point or another- that got the most thought. They were the ones everyone waited for with baited breath and put off making because they just seemed too big to make.

After all, anything effect someone's was something that shouldn't be made lightly. The future was important and what one was doing in said future was equally important. No one wanted to get stuck doing some task they loathed and detested. Even if one could change jobs, it was still a shame that they got stuck with a job they disliked at one point.

It was the fondest wish of most of the young people in Zion- who were old enough to know that soon it would be time to choose what path they wanted their lives to take- to pick the job of their dreams the first time around. No getting stuck with jobs they dislike or anything of the sort. Whether that happened or not was up to them, though. Up to a decision every one of them had to make.

"You know we're going to have to choose soon," Aisling brought up one rather uneventful day in the school's make shift cafeteria, "I've been putting it off but that person from the guidance area told me I have to make a decision sooner or later but preferably sooner to later."

"I heard the same thing," Ngaio concurred, with a deep frown, "got told start considering my future before someone took whatever job I wanted. Whatever that's supposed to mean. It's just not fair that they spring this on us now. Right when we're preparing for all those exams and stuff."

Non one knew why the cafeteria brought out the philosophical side in all of them. Whenever they entered its rock and metal confines futures, the merits of certain jobs, and other deeper things were discussed. Live and its decisions and what one wanted to do with the rest of their lives. There were conversations about love and marriage and things of that sort. Those were the conversations Pixie tended to avoid when she could help it. Getting teased by Aisling for the rest of the day because she's blushed something fierce was not her idea of fun, after all.

Of course, that didn't mean the occasional outburst of rather atypical teenage things were not to be heard. Things like the "hottest" boy in the Academy and the opposite gender if one was Adoh or Wheeler. Though that rarely ever got brought up for some reason. Adoh just seemed to dismiss the subject entirely and Wheeler was, well, Wheeler. He just said little on the subject. Nothing other than bringing up the fact he liked everyone in their own way.

"Well, I know what I'd like to do," Pixie broached, feeling and sounding sheepish, "I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it but, I guess, you could call it my little dream job."

The young girl refused to make eye contact with any of her friends, staring off at some point above Aisling's head. Her face had started to turn a pinkish shade as she never really liked talking about herself. That and it seemed very silly to her.

Pixie had never told any of her friends- They were actual friends now because they'd stuck by her after the whole mess with Hawk. - about her life in the Matrix. True, she told them stories, but they'd never heard the whole thing. They didn't need to know about how she really didn't think she'd even have a future to look forward to.

Maybe, someday, Pixie would tell them but not now. Now was the time for discussing other more, immediate matters. Her past was just that, past. Now was the time for talking about futures.

Pixie had considered the matter of her future in great detail, discussing it with not only Rain but with Torrent and some of those he worked with on the _Rebel Dream_. She wanted to know what opportunities were to be had not only in Zion but on ships and everyplace else they could think off. Pixie was well aware of the fact that someone with reasonably good grades in the Academy could get into any position in Zion.

The problem was, there was so much she wanted to do. There were many jobs that sounded interesting to her. Not that she was giving up on her first dream. More like Pixie kept adding things to it. She just didn't have to be reasonably good at one thing, she figured. There were plenty of things she could be reasonably good at.

A "Jack of all trades, Master of none," according to Torrent was what she was aiming to be.

The people he worked with, though, said she was crazy, but, then again, they all were a little crazy. One had to be, in order to actually take the red pill. Some part of someone had to be just a little insane to trust in someone they'd only just met and take something from them that "guaranteed" them the truth.

Crazy as it was, Pixie counted it as the best decision she ever made. She just hoped this decision was just as good for her.

"What's that, Pix?" Adoh asked, looking up from whatever he had been doing at the moment.

He'd been half listening to the conversation that was getting started and half paying attention to whatever he was eating. In Adoh's mind, the future would figure itself out. Sure, he'd have to think of a few things along the way but everything would right itself in the end. That was probably why the guidance councilor had taken one look at him, heard his philosophy on life, and shook her head. The honey haired boy just shrugged and explained that things in his life had a funny way of working out.

All it took was a little time.

"I'm thinking of taking at least two separate specializations," Pixie admitted, still not meeting anyone's eyes.

The pink in her cheeks had spread to stain her entire face. She could feel her skin warming even as she spoke. Her hands had tucked themselves under the table they were sitting at and were busy fiddling with the hem of her sweatshirt. Nervous energy needing to be spent and all that jazz.

"You're thinking of doing what?" Aisling exclaimed, "That's insane even for someone with the ability to jack in to learn."

"It's not so crazy," Wheeler stated, "I'm thinking of taking two specializations too."

His comment was ignored for a brief moment by all save Pixie. The young female smiled her thanks for his back-up, meeting his hazel eyes with her own for a fleeting moment. Out of all her friends- The small circle they were. - she had decided Wheeler was her best friend. He was always there to back her up for some strange reason.

In her own mind, Pixie figured it was because they'd known each other in the Matrix. That gave them a past she'd always lack when it came to the others. It was most likely that past that gave their friendship a little more backbone or something. Whatever it was Pixie just attributed it to the fact that Wheeler was just being a good friend.

"What are you taking? Maybe we're making a big deal for nothing, "Aisling questioned, turning the conversation back to Pixie, "You could think of the easiest subjects we have here

"I highly doubt that," Ngaio seconded, as she usually did, "this is Pixie we're talking about. She likes all that tricky stuff. Sad thing is, she's usually good at it."

"She'd probably say otherwise," Aisling brought up, "Again, this is Pixie we're talking about. She'd say she's not good at anything."

Pixie bit her lower lip, knowing the earful she was going to get when she revealed her specialties of choice. It was true that she did like tricky things- Anything that remotely looked like a puzzle to her caught her brandy brown eyes- and that she had an….uncanny…way of getting through things that everyone else found difficult. Pixie just chalked it all up to luck instead of skill. That was something Aisling and Ngaio didn't quite understand and they let her know that every time it was convenient to bring it up.

"Medical training because I always wanted to be a doctor, operator training because I, accidentally, got my hands on a copy of the code when I was in the matrix, and whatever other regular training we're going to get because I want to be useful if I get to work on a ship," she said, slowly.

Her eyes had gone from the spot on the wall behind Aisling to the table she was sitting at. The pink in her cheeks had deepened, leaving her red faced. Pixie seemed to shrink into herself, trying to make herself a small target with hunched shoulders and an apologetic smile on her face.

"You are out of your mind. Stark, raving out of your mind. Those are some of the densest subjects we have here. You want to be a doctor? That's crazy," Aisling said with a shake of her head.

"What do you need operator training for?" her brother questioned, "you're pod born, jack-able. My sister and I are supposed to be operators not people like you! "

Pixie gave a halfhearted shrug, knowing their questions were in her best interest. Not meant to hurt her feelings in anyway. They were either curious about why she wanted to put herself through what really amounted to torture or they just wanted to know. Find out the method behind her madness, so to speak.

"Just something I want to do. I use to have these sheets- or I thought I use to have these sheets- of the code and I kinda saw it as this huge puzzle to be solved," the young girl admitted.

"Pixie and her puzzles," laughed Ngaio from her spot on the table, shaking her head.

Everyone one knew that Pixie was fascinated with puzzles and solving them. Unless numbers and math were involved it was almost a sure thing that Pixie could solve anything out. Not that she'd ever say anything, of course.

"How about you, Wheeler? What's on your card?" Adoh asked.

"Specialized combat training- Mostly because someone said that there might be a way to use all the baseball training I had in the Matrix- and operator training because it looks fun," he admitted.

Adoh shook his head, causing Wheeler to ask, "What about you three? What paths are you planning on walking? You guys probably put some thought into things and just don't want to say anything to us."

"Actually, I'd like to be an engineer. You know, build and repair ships and stuff," Adoh admitted, with a offhanded sort of shrug.

That was his job of choice at the moment anyway. It just looked interesting to him. There was no other reason really. He figured, though, he'd never have the grades for it. It was just an idea he was toying with….a plan he figured he could test out and turn away from if he didn't like.

"Me too!" squealed Ngaio, happily, "I've always had my eye on building actually. When I was in the Matrix I wanted to go into architecture but you have to have really high math grades to even be considered for anything here."

"How about you Aisling?" Pixie questioned, making a brave attempt to turn the tables on her, generally, louder friend.

The usually loudmouthed girl had fallen mysteriously quiet. Her comments, often directed toward her brother in the most loving way possible, were absent from the present situation. Even Adoh was shocked by that fact because he figured Aisling might have something to say about him going into something that seemed contrary to anything he even liked to do.

Something, obviously, was not right with this situation.

"Medical training," she, finally, admitted.

No sooner had she answered than her brother bust out laughing. She reached around Wheeler and gave her twin a good hard slap. He winced and looked at his elder sister with a pleading expression.

"What was that for?" he whined, rubbing the back of his head.

"Laughing at me. You know why I want to work on a ship. Mom would still be working on a ship, if it wasn't for the blasted agents. Since I can't go in, I want to patch up the people who can so they can extract some payback on those agents," Aisling said, a great deal of venom in her voice.

They all knew the story of how Aisling and Adoh's mother, Una, had to quit her job on a ship and remain in Zion to raise her infant twins alone. Her husband, whom she and her children never spoke of, had been killed by agents in the Matrix. Thus, she was stuck raising her twins alone. She'd never been able to extract any "payback" for the loss of her spouse. That is, if she ever wanted any payback to begin with.

Still, it seemed her daughter was going to extract some measure of it for her, whether she wanted it or not.

"So, it's all settled then. All we need are the grades and to get through these programs," the Asian female said, going back to her work.

"Oh and for ships to accept our applications. Don't forget that little part," Pixie added, in a slightly worried tone.

Though Rain and Torrent had assured her that her grades were more than acceptable and that she'd have little trouble going through any program, Pixie still worried about getting her application accepted. She was convinced that there were other people out there who were far better equipped than she was for any job she could ever want.

Still, Pixie knew she had to try and hope that whatever dumb luck she lived by held out just a while longer. Just long enough to get her through to the next part of what she deemed was her life.


	29. Hedgehog's Dilemma

AN: I'm so sorry! I apologize for the delay in this chapter's uploading! Things have been pretty crazy for me lately but I think I have everything back on track now. Mostly it had to do with a combination of my sister's homework, dance, and an issue with Girl Scout leaders who don't do their jobs and never come to meetings and force other people to take care of their troop week in and week out. Anyway, everything is back on track and things are back to normal. Just another set of exams that I have to study for but that's about it. One of the joys of being in school and all that….all the exams. I'd rather write papers instead of taking exams but that's just me. I like papers better than exams in the first place…probably because they have to be written and I like writing better. Anyway, I apologize again and I promise to try better with the next update. Speaking of, thanks for all the reviews! I really do appreciate them! Please keep this coming as this story wanders forward and the misadventures for Pixie continue! A few familiar faces should be showing up soon…for good or for ill I can't say just yet!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"But, sir, please explain to my why my application was turned down," Pixie pleaded with the one person she knew would either allow her to do what she wanted or shoot her down.

Of the two choices, at the moment, the latter seemed the more likely of the two. Pixie wasn't even sure why she was bothering but she figured she had to try something. It was better than just sitting around a sulking or thinking she just wasn't good enough. Maybe Pixie was considering the latter more than the former but that wasn't here or there at the moment.

Along with her friends, Pixie had put in consideration papers for a job on board the Zion fleet. Everyone's, from the twins on down, had come back with a message of approval. They'd been put on the lists for consideration in their respective fields.

The same could not be said for Pixie. She had been deemed unacceptable for entrance into the fleet. Her age had been the given excuse. Pixie wasn't sure what her age had to do with it

Wheeler- Along with Rain, Torrent, and a few of the people Torrent worked with- had urged her to speak with Commander Lock, the man in charge of the city's defense and, as a result of that, the fleet. It was out of character for her do something like that but Pixie figured it was the only choice she really had. Staying in Zion- No matter how much she enjoyed living within its confines- was something Pixie didn't see herself doing.

So now she stood in the office of the man affectionately called "Deadbolt" by the rest of the crew.

"Because you are not old enough to put in for a position. You must be eighteen in order to join the fleet. You're not eighteen yet," Lock informed the young girl in a well practiced tone.

It had been the answer she was expecting, the one given on her returned form. Pixie just had to be sure it was the truth. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to give up on the cause.

There was still one more trick she had up her sleeve. Her "trump card" if one might use such a phrase.

"From what I heard, sir, the day the commissions are suppose to be given out happens to be my eighteenth birthday, in Matrix years. That would mean, I'd be of the proper age to get a job," she countered, feeling slightly proud of herself at the moment.

It had been Rain who had suggested she use that line, not something Pixie thought of herself. As a matter of reference, Pixie hadn't even thought she'd have enough guts to use said line. As it was, she was fighting her natural urge to look at the tops of her boots as she spoke and was trying her best to keep her embarrassed blush down to just a pink tinge in the cheeks.

All in all Pixie was convinced she was putting up, at least, a passable front. She wasn't making direct eye contact with Lock, of course. Her eyes were roaming around his rather severe looking office, fixing on different things at different times. As for the blushing, she was redder faced out of frustration than anything else.

Lock looked perplexed for all of a moment before his usual stone faced expression returned. It appeared her counter, no matter how brilliant she thought it was, had no effect on the commander, crushing Pixie's spirit.

"It doesn't matter. You can always apply next time around," he stated, sounding exasperated," just drop the issue and get to class."

In his opinion, this conversation had gone on long enough. The young girl standing in front of his desk needed to get it though her thick head that what she wanted simply wasn't going to happen. She wasn't going to be able to use whatever passed for her own brand of logic

Pixie, dejected that she was going to be stuck in Zion for another year or so, headed for the door. She didn't have classes that day, as a matter of reference. Instead, she was going to take the long walk back to Rain's home and spend the day "distracting" herself with puzzles and things. Maybe Aisling and the others might stop by to study or something. She'd break the bad news to them then.

Much to her surprise, it opened before she arrived. Startled, Pixie took a few steps back into the office, pressing herself against a wall.

An older man, a councilor by his state of dress, walked into Lock's office. He was an older man, what hair he had white and sparse on his head but his eyes were a bright blue, clad in robes of a dark green. His clothing seemed out of place standing as he was between two people wearing standard issue rag-tag outfits.

Pixie assumed the councilor's mode of dress had everything to do with showing their position. Set them apart from the rest of Zion's population or something to that effect. Sort of the same thing Pixie figured with captains and operators. Captains seemed to have the market cornered on red shirts while operators seemed to spent a great deal of their time in dark blue shirts.

"Councilor Octavian, to what do I owe the honor," Lock stated, showing the elder man some type of differential respect but the tone of his voice gave his obvious annoyance away.

This was, probably, the last thing Lock wanted to deal with, Pixie figured. First her little failed mission to try and get him to change his mind and now a visit from a councilor. Pixie almost inwardly grinned at the thought of Lock being caught unprepared for such a meeting.

"Just a visit. There was some trouble with the crew of the _Vector Prime_ that needed attending to otherwise I would have been here sooner," Octavian stated, causally.

Lock shook his head. _Vector Prime_ was a minor ship that caused major headaches among the entire body of Zion's military. The captain, a female calling herself Invisigoth, had taken on a first mate called Duke who was proving to be more than a challenge. It seemed the man had an absolute, unerring death wish. Every time she turned around he was chasing Agents around the Matrix and narrowly escaping with more than a little help from his crewmates.

"There's not a problem. I was just finishing a discussion with Pixie here about future job opportunities," Lock stated.

The councilor turned his eyes to Pixie who had been trying to inch her way out of the office. She had a feeling she was in a situation she should not have been in and, as such, wanted to get out as quickly as possible. This was, obviously, not the place for someone like her. She was, really, nothing more than a student and a hopeful member of Zion's fleet in the medical field.

"So this is the young woman whose name was causing a stir earlier on in the council's chamber," Octavian commented, extending a hand to Pixie.

Unsure of what else to do, Pixie shook the elder man's hand. Respect seemed to be the order of the day, given the man's age and status. Pixie didn't want to seem rude or anything like that even if she wasn't sure what else to do. He'd caught her off guard, trying to sneak out of the office like a child who was in the room when her parents started to fight. Not that Pixie ever had that experience in her life but she figured it felt about the same.

Pixie also wasn't sure why her name had come up in the council's chamber earlier on. She wanted to ask but her voice had taken a leave of absence along with most of her nerve.

"It's very nice to meet you, young miss," the councilor stated, "It's nice to have a face to put with the name at long last."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, sir," Pixie, quietly, admitted as she tested her voice.

She knew her issue had gone as far as Commander Lock only because she, herself, had brought it that far. How it got in front of the city's council was beyond her.

"How about you step outside for just a bit while Commander Lock and I discuss your...unique...situation? I promise it will only be for a moment or two," he requested.

Pixie nodded, not all together sure what was really going on, and stepped out of Lock's office, pulling the door shut behind her. That was probably the best thing for her to do, anyway. Pixie had no love for being the center of any sort of storm as it usually meant attention being placed on her and was eager to get away from the whole situation.

"Jason, you're going to have to rethink her application and accept it," Octavian stated, stepping into the gaze of the commander.

If looks could kill, the councilor would have been dead on the spot. Though his rank was under the councilor, Lock wasn't keen on having someone tell him how to run what he perceived to be his arm. That and he followed every rule to the letter. Allowing Pixie to put her work in would undermine the rules he had set.

"I do not understand what the big deal with this girl is. She's just another Pod Born, would be rebel," Lock countered, annoyance growing.

"Think of this way in a few weeks all of her friends would have gone. It's true she can reapply next time around, when she is of proper age, but who says she will. She may lose all interest in joining the fleet since we're always looking for able minded, Pod Born medics," the councilor rationalized for Lock, "You need bodies on your ships Jason. You can't afford to lose even one person."

Lock sighed, understanding the councilor's point. Bodies were needed to man the ships. Ships were needed to make contact with those still trapped and free them from the matrix. Free people, in kind, joined crews. It was all cyclic in nature.

"I know you're torn between two choices. I would be too, if I were you. Just consider taking the alternate path this time. Just this once," the councilor cajoled, "Just in case you want to know how I got involved here, one of her teachers in the Academy is an old friend of mine. He asked me to look in on this and see if there was anything I could do to help, as he put it, 'one of the best students I've seen since I taught in the Matrix.'"

The conflict was visible in the commander's eyes. He wanted to buck Octavian's orders and do what he knew was right. But the councilor had a point, his words rang true. They were just as logical as the other argument. He needed bodies on his ship and, if Pixie's mind was half as able as her files stated, it would be a shame to lose her

"But she's underage," Lock protested, rehashing the initial complaint he had logged.

"She'll be the proper age when they are handed out. That has to count for something," the councilor countered.

Lock shook his head, realizing that the argument was not getting anywhere.

"Look at her grades, Jason. Look at what her instructors say about her. Just don't look at her age. Do really want that not on one of your ships?" the elder man added with a knowing smile, "I'd make a note of her medical training grade. Despite what she probably told you, she has a mind."

Satisfied that his work was done, Octavian commented, "Now, I'm going to go out there and tell Pixie not to worry. Go back on your word, Lock, and you'll find that you'll have a very difficult road ahead of you."

Lock sighed, looking over the file again. He had a decision to make and it was a tough one to say the least. Harder still because he was being asked to go against the grain. Something he was exceedingly not comfortable doing.

Meanwhile, Pixie made her way back to Rain's, confused expression on her face. Something was happening, of that she was certain. Whether it was for good or for ill she hadn't a clue.


	30. In the Flesh

AN: Hi everyone! Welcome back to the misadventures of Pixie and company. I hope everyone's enjoying the ride because we have a bit of a ways to go before the end. A few more misadventures for Pixie to get into and the reappearance of a few characters that should have disappeared but really didn't. They're around…lucking in the background and waiting for the time to strike. Well, maybe not all of them will strike but a few of them will. For anyone who is curious, the cannon characters will be making their reappearance soon too. I didn't forget them. It was just that Pixie needed to do some growing up first. Though, I wouldn't really say Pixie's all that grown up either….maybe. Anywho, I'll stop rambling now! Back to the point! Thanks for all the reviews and everything! You guys are the best and I really am shocked when I get reviews. After all, I wrote this to pass the time in school and to keep myself busy between classes. Please, keep them coming and let me know how I'm doing!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"So ya  
Thought ya  
Might like to go to the show  
To feel the warm thrill of confusion and  
That space cadet glow  
Tell me is something eluding you sunshine?  
Is this not what you expected to see?  
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes?  
You'll just have to claw your way through the  
Disguise…" (from "In the Flesh" by Pink Floyd)

Pixie was pretty sure that if it had eyes, it would be staring her in the eyes. Bad enough its scuffed surface was mildly reflective, mirroring back her own furtive expression. All she was seeing was her own brandy brown stare reflected back at her in a warped sort of way. Not something Pixie liked, usually, but at the moment, Pixie liked it less.

The idea that a small silvery colored disk was mocking her wasn't a comfortable one for Pixie. Not anymore, anyway. Not after finding out the truth about the Matrix and its machines.

The small disk she was turning over in her hand had been delivered to her own personal small home, exactly one level below Rain's earlier that morning. Pixie had been given the few rooms to call her own several days prior. An early birthday gift from Rain and Torrent who figured that Pixie probably wanted to stop having to share a room with their growing son.

She wasn't opposed to living on her own but not for that reason. It was more like Pixie figured it would make things easier. Rain wouldn't have to worry about her and Torrent being out what Rain called home at the same time. Out of sight, out of mind or something like that.

Rain had made it perfectly clear, though, that she was welcome back every night if she didn't want to be alone. That was something Pixie greatly appreciated as she'd come to think of Rain and Torrent, maybe not as parents, but the closest thing to parent like figures she had.

Of course that whole scenario banked on Pixie actually getting a job on one of the ships in Zion's fleet. Said information was supposed to be on the disk she was holding in her hand.

Problem was, Pixie hadn't the nerve to put it in her small computer and check its contents.

The councilor that had spoken to her weeks prior had promised Lock would reconsider her application but there had been no promise put towards any captain taking a look at her papers. As far as she knew, that disk read that she was going to have to spend another year in Zion most likely working in the medical center either refining her techniques or picking up a specialty or something to that effect.

It wasn't that Pixie hated Zion. Not by any means did she. It was more like she wanted to help people as she had been helped. Return the favor, so to speak. After all, in her mind, getting out of the Matrix had granted her a new lease on life. It only seemed fair to Pixie to be able to give even one person that same chance.

"Come on, Pix. Just put in your computer and take a look at it. Whatever it say, it says," she chided herself, crossing the room and pulling a small computer from its niche on the wall.

Ever so carefully, she inserted the disk into the proper slot on the computer's right side, pressing a few of the small keys. Green characters flowed onto the tiny black screen too quickly for the human eyes to discern. It cloud have been nauseating the speed at which the characters flowed and moved but Pixie had learned not to look away. Much to her surprise, she was use to it now.

As the characters settled into a readable pattern, a banging on the door broke Pixie's attention. Pixie let out a breath of relief that she hadn't even known she was holding. A tiny smile crossed her face as she welcomed the distraction. If she could delay having to look at the information on that disk for even a moment, Pixie was more than willing to allow it.

Setting the computer on her make-shift table, she called a very loud, "I'm coming! Hold on a second!"

She pulled the heavy, rusted metal door open to reveal Aisling and Adoh, wide smiles on their faces and dressed in what amounted to be their finest clothing. With a start, she realized why they were dressed as they were. In all the chaos that had been swirling around her own mind, Pixie had totally forgotten what else was supposed to go on today.

Well, maybe a small part of her wanted to forget because she wasn't keen on what was to take place.

There was to be a Gathering at the temple in honor of the large class leaving the Academy...taken to mean in their honor. A sort of senior prom, maybe for those who were from the Matrix and knew about such things. Either that or it was just an excuse to celebrate. Everyone knew about what went on outside the walls of Zion and to forget that, if only for a moment, was a welcome thing.

Pixie had heard all about temple Gatherings and had decided she wasn't going. She felt no great need to be there, in a crowded close quarters situation. The stories she'd heard from Aisling and Adoh- Stories they'd heard second hand from others in Zion-had left her blushing redder than anyone figured was humanly possible. She didn't want any part of that sort of thing. She might have been newly eighteen but she was, as Rain put it, a "young eighteen." Whatever that really meant.

Of course, her friends felt otherwise. As soon as Aisling and Ngaio caught her red face they decided she had to attend. That and, according to them, "it just wouldn't be the same without her."

"Why aren't you dressed?" Aisling asked, as soon as she took in Pixie's stated of dress, "You're going whether you want to or not. You have to go! Don't you Matrix people make a big deal out of that prom thing?"

A state not entirely conducive to the evening's events. Pixie was in her usually black pants-held on by a battered belt- and a blue sweater that had seen better days. Her feet were bare save for some thick gray socks and her hair was pulled into a ponytail.

"Why are you two all smiles? Did you get any news?" Pixie questioned, trying to take control of the conversation.

Pixie was hoping that, if she could distract Aisling from her point long enough, she could get out of going. Maybe use her mind to trick Aisling or something to that effect.

"Newest medical officer on the _Rebel Dream_," Aisling announced, her atypical smirk on her face.

"Mechanical engineer for the _Rebel Stand_," her brother added, his lopsided smile just a little wider than it normally was.

Both sounded exceedingly proud of their accomplishments. They had every right to be. It was a huge deal to be accepted to work on a ship. For a Zion born, it meant just a little more. For them, it meant a pass card right out of Zion. They'd be able to see the tunnels of the Real World and not just the same sights in Zion they'd grown up with.

They'd never be able to enter the Matrix like a Pod Born but, still, Pixie figured the freedom from the usual was enough for any of them.

"Congrats guys," Pixie stated, trying to actually make it sound like she meant it.

Her eyes flicked over to the table, with the open computer sitting near its center. She wanted to know what the disk said but, at the same time, she didn't want to know. The thought of her being the only one of her friends- because Pixie was convinced that Wheeler and Ngaio also got jobs- to get left behind in Zion was not a pleasant one.

"What about you? Anything?" Adoh asked, almost hesitantly.

He- like the others- had heard about Pixie's little "issue" with Lock and the councilor that had come to her aid. None of them knew if anything was going to come out of it but Adoh figured something had to. Whether she'd admit it or not, Adoh and the others knew she was pretty smart.

"I got a disk but I haven't had the nerve to look at it," Pixie, sheepishly, admitted.

"Wimp," Aisling stated around a good natured laugh, "You're not bothered by a little blood but this little disk is scaring you? That's strange, Pix."

She walked over to the table, finished the job Pixie started. For a handful of heartbeats there was nothing. The other girl just stared at the data on the screen as if she could make no sense of it with a very confused look on her face.

Pixie knew Aisling could read…unless she was doing a pretty good job faking it in all the years they had known each other…so the confusion was, seemingly, out of place.

"Pix, I think you need to take a look at this. It's not making any sense to me," she said, shoving the computer into Pixie's hand and almost laughing as Pixie nearly dropped it in her caught off guard shock.

Brandy brown eyes scanned the tiny screen the computer employed. Pixie understood Aisling's confusion, all of a sudden. What appeared before her eyes made no sense.

This didn't look normal to her at all.

"Well?" Adoh prompted, being the only person who hadn't had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the strange data.

"I got a job as a medic but the screen only reads a time and a docking bay number. There's no ship name," she said, voice belling her confusion.

"Well, that's cool. I mean, you got assigned a job," Adoh said, trying to make light of the situation, "So, congratulations are in order. We all told you not to worry."

"Yeah, congrats Pix. I told you that you were going to get a spot. You're too good not to have gotten on. Even I admit that," Aisling added.

"But what if it's a mistake or a trick or something," Pixie worried aloud, placing the computer on the table and just staring at the screen.

"It's not, don't worry," Aisling assured the other girl, "The higher-ups have no humor they're aware of."

Clapping and rubbing her hands together, she added, "Adoh, go get Wheeler and Ngaio. Someone had to get ready for her big night out."

Pixie frowned, apparently her little ruse hadn't worked. Knowing that it was going to be a losing battle, she allowed Aisling to lead her off for a search of what passed for her wardrobe as Adoh made his way off to get the others.


	31. Wunderkind

AN: Hi everyone and welcome back! I hope everyone's enjoying the fact spring is here and that things are starting to get all nice again. Here in NYC, it's finally starting to get pretty warm out. What's more, baseball season started again. Another season of New York Mets baseball and here's hoping that this season isn't as….disappointing….as the past few have been. I'm just a little tired of watching my poor team get trounced by every other team in the league! It gets just a bit annoying after a while….repetitive too. Anyway, spring also means spring break though I'm spending my spring break going between dance rehearsals and working on a presentation for one of my classes. I don't mind writing papers but I don't really like presentations. Don't like talking in front of the room and all which sounds really weird considering I've been dancing for nineteen years. Being on stage doesn't really scare me- except for just before my solo, then I'm terrified- but being in front of a classroom gives me the creepin' willies. I hope everyone has a good spring break and all of that! Anywho, thanks for all the reviews and stuff for my little story. Please keep them coming, especially for this chapter and the next few following it. Any advice, good, bad, or indifferent, is greatly appreciated because I'm not entirely sure at my abilities at writing this sorta thing. Thanks for all the reviews though! You're all awesome and I really do appreciate you reading my little story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Oh perilous place  
Walk backwards toward you  
Blink disbelieving eyes chilled to the bone  
Most visibly brave  
No apprehended bloom  
First to take this foot to virgin snow

I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment  
I am a wunderkind oh  
I live the envelope pushed far enough to believe this  
I am a princess on the way to my throne  
destined to serve  
destined to roam" (from "Wunderkind" by Alanis Morissette)

Nervously dancing from foot to foot, trying his best not to show what he was truly feeling, Adoh reached up a hand to knock on the bright red door leading into what Pixie creatively called her home. It might have been small and everything but it was still her home. Same as all their homes, really. Small, simple, and very utilitarian but still home.

It seemed to the others standing with him, he'd gone through the motion several thousand times before. A plain sign that the young man was a little more than nervous. That and the absence of his jokes. By their count, Adoh hadn't cracked a joke in a good, long while. Actually, he hadn't said anything in a long time. He just kept rapping on the door in an effort to hurry his sister and Pixie along.

"She heard you the first time," Wheeler stated, knocking Adoh's hand off the door, "I'm sure she'll be right out. They'll be out soon."

The usually placid, scruffy haired young man was starting to get just a bit annoyed with Adoh's repeated knocking. The first few times it was alright but now it was starting to get to him. He didn't want to be mean or anything like that but he just didn't want to hear the hollow sound of Adoh's fist against the red metal of Pixie's door.

Wheeler tried to look calm, to show the other boy there was no need to be nervous. This was no big deal, just something akin to a prom in the Matrix or so he'd been told by another Pod Born in one of his classes. Just a little dance between friends before everyone scattered to all corners of the Real World doing whatever it was they were trained to do.

Before any of them were lost to the war that raged just beyond the borders of their underground home. A good time before any permanent "good byes" were said to friends.

What the scruffy looking young man- though his clothing was not exactly scruffy looking. He was dressed in dark colored pants and a pale gray sweater that wasn't as ratty looking as the others he owned. The only scruffy thing about him was his hair which never really looked neat no matter what was done to it. - had heard from people outside of Zion's Academy was a different story. A story that was enough to set him on edge and change his placid personality to something just a bit different.

What he heard about the events that took place in the vast cavern that was the Temple was enough to make the former Texan baseball player blush. In his opinion, that was quite enough to make him nervous. The most dancing he had ever done in his young life was at a wedding in the Matrix so he wasn't sure of that even counted as real. Sure it took some coordination to play baseball, to be able to turn proper plays in the field and everything like that, but Wheeler had never exactly been an ace on the dance floor.

"Calm yourself, Adoh," Ngaio called from her place on the railing, "it takes us girls some time to get ready. Watch, I'm sure your sister did an excellent job with Pixie."

In Wheeler's humble opinion, Ngaio was just a bit to calm for all of this. She seemed to be taking everything in stride which was making him a little more nervous. As far has knew, it had been decided that they were going to this little event as a group. No one was really going with anyone else.

That was as far as Wheeler knew anyway. With people like Aisling and Ngaio in charge, so to speak, things could change at the drop of a hat.

As if to diffuse anything that might have transpired, the door opened just a slit and a single eye, dark blue in color, peered out. It darted left and right, up and down for a few moments almost as if it was looking for something or making sure that everything was how it was supposed to be.

"Oh, it's you guys," Aisling commented, pulling the door open and coming to stand in the doorway, "I was just making sure. With everything that's happening today, there have been a few people knocking at the wrong doors."

"Well, is she ready? We're going to be late," Adoh asked, still dancing from foot to foot.

Aisling sighed and gave her friends an odd look. A look that was a mix of totally and utter amusement and something like genuine concern.

"What happened?" Ngaio wanted to know, frowning slightly.

The look on Aisling's face was one that called for concern. Everyone knew that Pixie was quiet and shy but she and Aisling had a sinking feeling that Pixie could be really thick headed about things if she chose to be. If that was the truth, then they were all in trouble.

Pixie had already told them that she didn't want to go down to the Temple for the Gathering. Told them that it was something she wasn't keen on doing because she didn't dance and wasn't comfortable "with things like that," in her own words. If their guess was true, getting Pixie to go wasn't going to be the easiest thing in Zion.

"She's ready...but there's a slight problem," the other female answered, "I don't think she's ever dressed up before so she's not entirely comfortable at the moment. Well that and she doesn't want to go but we all knew that part."

"What are we going to do, sis? Laugh at her? We're not going to do that," Adoh stated, trying his best to make one of his typical comments and having little success.

He wandered over to the railing with a shrug, as no one answered his query.

Aisling shook her head with a laugh and walked over to the railing. She leaned back, resting on her elbow, between her brother and Ngaio.

"Was it that bad, Aisling?" Ngaio asked, "Trying to get her ready?"

"I wouldn't say it was that bad. It was just that she really doesn't want to go and, personally, I think she's just not comfortable in anything but her usual clothing," Aisling answered, still staring into the empty room before her.

Pixie had promised that she was "right behind her" and was heading out of the door to join her friends on the metal walkway. Apparently, that was not true. Pixie was someplace else in her small home.

"Come on, Pix. We haven't got all night," Aisling called into the emptiness, "we have to get going and you promised you'd come with us. You don't want to break a promise right?"

A figure, all hair and skin, nearly flew out of the bunker. It turned to face the red door, back to the others. She didn't seem all that keen on turning around to face the others. Something Aisling didn't really understand, all things considered. No one really knew what Pixie looked like since she was rather fond of her ill fitting clothing.

Aisling almost wanted to hit her dark haired friend upside the head, like she did to her brother every now and again, when she saw her dressed in clothing that actually fit. It was like seeing a whole new Pixie, one that needed to be seen more often.

"Pixie, it's going to be very difficult for you to walk down to the temple like that. You're going to have to turn around sometime," Aisling stated, shaking with laughter.

Pixie sighed, more uncomfortable than anything else, and turned to face her friends. Her face was a vivid crimson, making it look as if someone had dropped red ink all over her skin. Uncomfortable was too mild a word to describe how she was feeling at the moment. Pixie, for all her schooling both in Zion, couldn't even come up with the proper word to describe just how awkward she was feeling at the current moment. A feeling she was sure was only going to get worse as the night wore on.

Her normal clothing, her baggy sweaters, clunky boots, and too big pants, had, seemingly, disappeared entirely. In truth, Aisling had forbidden her from wearing them today. Said that this was the kind of event one dressed up for. Pixie tried to argue that all the clothing she owned looked like that. She only owned clothing that was comfortable and nothing for a dressy sort of occasion since she didn't think such things existed in Zion.

Then Aisling discovered the small bundle of clothing Rain had given her some time ago. Clothing Pixie had, basically, forgotten she owned, really. It was just a ball at the bottom of the bin she kept her clothing in. Something she looked at every now and again when she came across it but that was rare.

At the moment, Pixie wore a yellow tank top style shirt and a skirt that came to just above her knees. Aisling had commented that she wished it was a bit shorter but there was little she could do now. They'd just have to make due with what they had. Work with what was being presented to them. Someone had procured sandals for her to wear and her hair was loose, hanging below her waist.

Pixie appeared to particularly interested in the sandals since her eyes wouldn't leave them. Dressed as she was, Pixie had become acutely aware of the jacks that dotted her arms and legs. Rubbing her hands on her arms had done nothing to hide said jacks or provide any other coverage she wished she had. She felt exposed and naked, on display for all to see.

Feelings that were made worse by the fact, Aisling and the others were staring at her. Whether they were staring at her because of how she looked or because of her odd behavior Pixie couldn't say. Either way, it was making her even more nervous than she already was. Pixie had never liked being at the center of attention and having everyone gawk at her.

In the Matrix, Pixie had recalled always wearing jeans and t-shirts. Coveralls were nearly always her pants of choice. She never had a use for dresses or dressing up. Given how she felt most of the time in the Matrix, Pixie had eschewed fashion for comfort. It was just easier to feel awful when one was dressed comfortably.

"Wow, Pix, just wow," Wheeler breathed, trying figure out just why he was suddenly very sheepish sounding.

As soon as she turned around, the Texan Pod Born's eyes had gone wide as saucers. This was defiantly a far cry from the Pixie he was use to seeing every day. Not that the change was a bad thing or anything like that. It was just different and different in a way that made him stare.

Wheeler was well aware of the fact Pixie didn't like to be stared at, which was why she always lurked in the background and avoided being the center of attention at all costs, so he tried to look someplace else. To give his bright hazel eyes something else to stare at. It was all for naught as they kept coming back to Pixie. Something Wheeler decided was the result of her looking startlingly different from how she usually did.

"You clean up real nice there," Adoh added with a bright smile, "So that's what you're hiding under your sweaters, huh?"

Pixie mumbled her thanks but didn't look up from her feet. She crossed her arms, making an "x" shape over her chest was arguably supposed to be with her hands resting on her shoulders. It was going to be a long night indeed.

"Let's go," the Asian female reminded the group, "we don't want to be late and miss the opening address and everything. I don't want to get stuck in the back either."

"I'm just going to stay here," Pixie babbled, trying her best to get back inside where she deemed it safe.

Her head was screaming at her just to run back into the relative safety of her home and away from her friends and their eyes. From Wheeler and his eyes too even though she really did appreciate his efforts not to stare. He'd always been very considerate of her and her…quirky…personality. She really did appreciate that fact though she never got around to telling him. Never could get the words to come out of her mouth.

Strangely, though, Pixie had the oddest feeling that he knew that she did. He had to understand, actually, because he was just always there for her. Always made sure she had someone to sit with during lunch at the Academy and walk back from class with. Out of everyone in the Real World, Pixie had decided that Wheeler was one of her best friends. Maybe her best friend but she wasn't sure if she wanted to weigh him down with a heavy title like that.

"No, you're not," Aisling stated, taking Pixie's arm and starting to walk her away from the place she called home, "not after I worked so hard to get you to look like that. We have plans tonight, Pixie, since this could be our last night together."

As they walked, Aisling handed Pixie off to a very shocked looking Wheeler. She walked ahead a few steps as Adoh took Ngaio's hand. Wheeler, quickly, realized that this was all a set up. A creative ruse or one of Aisling's wicked plans.

Pixie blushed furiously as Wheeler caught her arm and turned her eyes someplace else. She was never going to be able to look him in the eye though that wasn't unusual. It was rare for her to make eye contact with anyone for some reason. It wasn't that she was being rude or anything like that. It was just that, most of the time, making direct eye contact with a person resulted in her blushing a vivid crimson color.

"Don't worry about this, Pix. It'll be fun, you'll see," Wheeler stated, trying to sound more confident than he felt and trying to make Pixie feel somewhat better about everything that was going on.

He gave her a smile that was considerably shyer than the one he usually gave her and added, "You do really look pretty, though. I mean it."

If Wheeler was blushing a pale pink, Pixie's face managed to get a bit redder. She peered up at Wheeler and gave him a very small smile of thanks. She wasn't sure if she believed him or not but she knew it was still a very nice thing for him to say. He really didn't have to say that to her.

"Thank you…" she mumbled trailing off when she ran out of things to say.

"You and I always have a good time together. I be we have a good time today too," Wheeler said, as crowd started getting thicker and she was forced to stand rather close to him in order not to get lost.

"Whatever you say, Wheeler, whatever you say," she mumbled, feeling distinctly like she was heading for the firing squad in her head but her heart was assuring her that Wheeler was right, "I hope you're right, though."

"Oh ominous place  
Spellbound and un-childproofed  
My least favorite chill to bear alone  
Compatriots in place  
They'd cringe if I told you  
Our best back pocket secret: our bond full blown

I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment  
I am a wunderkind oh  
I am a pioneer naïve enough to believe this  
I am a princess on the way to my throne  
destined to seek  
destined to know…" (from "Wunderkind" by Alanis Morissette)


	32. Late Night in Zion

AN: Hi everyone! Hope everyone's having a really nice Spring Break if you're on Spring Break at the moment. It's finally getting spring-like here in NYC with warm weather and stuff. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've had to wear my heavy coat in like two weeks! Now that I've said that, it'll probably snow or something. Anywho, sorry for the delay on this chapter but I've had some computer issues. I couldn't get on-line for some odd reason and my dad had to take the computer into the shop to be fixed….again. At least this time, I didn't lose any of the stories I had saved to my on-line account. This poor story right here has been subject to so many rewrites because my computer's gone on the fritz and I've lost parts to it. Most of the stuff I'm posting has been written and rewritten two or three times. Maybe more….I'm not entirely sure at the moment. My computer's better for the moment and everything appears to be working so here I am updating again! Thanks for all the reviews though! I really appreciate them and please keep them coming. Just let me know what you think….good, bad, indifferent. I'm always open to constructive criticism when it comes to writing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"We're not alone in this madness, if we're here then so are you.  
Deepest caverns underground,  
We've been searching for the truth.  
Scrape my knees on the hurdles, face down in a puddles" (From "Late Night in Zion" by Matisyahu)

Despite the fact the cave that was declared to be the temple was huge and vast, it was oppressively hot. Pixie almost understood why people went to events like the one she had been forced into attending dressed in next to nothing. They'd pass out from the sheer heat alone.

Still, in her own mind, Pixie felt she'd rather pass out from the heat than dress like the others. As it was, she felt like she was underdressed. Every few minutes, it seemed, she was tugging on the shirt she was wearing or on the hem of her skirt, trying to pull it down just a bit more. Much to Aisling's eternal amusement.

Not that the veritable sea of people or the flaming torches that lit the temple at the moment were helping the temperature situation any either.

The quartet of young people had pushed their way into the center of the crowd. People stood closely packed like sardines in a tin can. Toes were being stepped on, shoulders were getting bumped but no one seemed to really, particularly, care. On all sides, there were people all caught in their own worlds. Everyone was with their own friends, in their own groups.

Between the people and the heat and the fact she was just plain uncomfortable, Pixie preferred her world to be someplace very far away. Her home, or Rain's home, came to mind as places she'd rather be. At least, there she'd have her space and she'd be comfortable.

Voices rang throughout the temple, echoes caroming all around giving the effect that there were more people then there actually were. Of course, with such a vast crowd, Pixie figured she could have been badly mistaken. Maybe, just maybe, the sound truly reflected the numbers in this case.

Whatever the reason was- Pixie wasn't going to attempt to guess for she wasn't the biggest fan in the world of physics because it was more math than science and she had no love for math related things- it was quickly driven from her mind. Someone she knew had appeared over Aisling's left shoulder, though the other girl didn't appear to notice. She had "accidentally" bumped into a boy she was more than a little interested in.

Aisling was deeply engrossed in a conversation with a boy from the Academy Pixie thought was named Conall. She didn't know very much about him save for the fact he was born in Zion and he wanted to work as an operator. They might have had a class or two together but he didn't really speak to her as he had his own group of friends.

"Well, if it isn't the birthday girl herself," Chian commented, stepping between the twins, casting a questioning glance at Aisling, and joining the small circle.

"Hey there, Chian," Pixie stated with a small smile, "When did you get in?"

It appeared to be just dumb luck that Chian had found her in the vast crowd of people. Pixie wasn't the biggest of individuals so picking her out was akin to finding a needle in a moving haystack. Unless Chian had been following them or something but Pixie highly doubted that.

"Just awhile ago. Came down here with Sparks," she answered, "but between you, me, and your scruffy friend- How are you, Wheeler? Everything going good? - next to you, I lost Sparky someplace back in the crowd."

"Who's Sparks? Someone from your ship or something," Wheeler asked, curiously.

He was standing next to Pixie, on her right side, looking vaguely uncomfortable, himself. People who had told him about Gatherings like this had not, truly, done them justice. Sure they told him about the dancing but they failed to mention the fact that having a Gathering brought out, what appeared to be, Zion's entire population. Not only brought them out but stripped them of their shoes and jammed them into a very hot cave as well.

"The only Sparks I of know is the operator on the _Logos_," Aisling brought up, turning herself away from her conversation for a brief moment.

No one asked her how she knew for fear of her answer. It was better, most of the time, not to know Aisling's information sources.

"One and the same," the elder rebel stated with a smile.

"Wait a second, I though you were on the _Socrates_ with Angel," Pixie blurted, her voice belaying her shock.

Using a trick she had learned from Torrent, Pixie had come to find out just where all her old hacker buddies had been assigned. There was that and the fact Chian always seemed to bump into her. Something about her being like a younger sister to her or something like that. Pixie wasn't entirely sure and never asked for clarification because, most of the time, Chian was out with her ship.

"Effective today," Chian stated, sounding rather proud of herself, "You're looking at the new mechanical engineer of the _Logos_. Luxor, my old captain, transferred me for some reason."

"Oh wow, that's one of the major ships. I didn't think they took anyone that young," commented Wheeler, his own assignment on his mind.

Not that he was jealous or anything of the sort. Wheeler counted himself lucky to even get an assignment knowing that there were certainly people with better grades out there. One of them was standing to his right, though the scruffy haired blond male knew she'd never admit that little fact.

Chian just shrugged off the comment, though she was obviously proud of her accomplishment, and asked, "How many of you will I be seeing tomorrow?"

"Nearly all of us, I think. Aisling's on the _Rebel Dream_, Adoh's on the _Rebel Stand_. Twin ships for the twins, I guess. Wheeler's on the _Shatterpoint_, and I'm on _The Crystal Star_," Ngaio rattled off, "I'm not sure about Pixie, though."

Chian turned to face Pixie, giving her a look that plainly asked her about her own assignment. Pixie turned a pale pink and stared at the ground. Her feet seemed to be more interesting than her friend at the moment.

"I got an assignment but it's weird. It's just a dock number and a meeting time. No ship name or anything like that," Pixie answered with a shrug.

"Well, I just came down from there. Dropping my stuff off at the _Logos_. Maybe I can tell you what ship you're on," Chian offered.

Pixie in her excitement had managed to engrain the exact image on the screen, with its glowing green letters, into her memory. She gave the place and time, speaking slowly but clearly as not to confuse anything up in the slightest.

"As far as I know, that bay's empty. Are you sure you got the place and time right?" Chian answered, sounding perplexed.

"I guess I could be wrong. I mean, I thought I knew what I was talking about but, maybe, I got everything jumbled up," Pixie stated.

Chian shrugged, unsure of what to respond with. Ships came into and out of Zion at all times of the false day and night. Perhaps the bay would be filled in by the given time.

She was sure, however, of the fact Pixie probably knew what she was talking about. The information she had just told her was, most likely, not mixed or jumbled or confused.

Quieter than anyone thought possible, a gray clad male appeared over Chian's shoulder. In his hands he held two beverage containers, both frothing mysteriously.

"You know there's someone standing behind you," Adoh pointed out.

Chian looked over her should and smiled a bit. She stepped to the side and allowed the gray clad man to join the group. He was, obviously, older than the group of eighteen year olds but Pixie wasn't all that sure of his age. She'd never been good at guessing people's ages to begin with.

"Everyone Sparks. Sparks, everyone," Chian said by was of introduction.

The male gave a sarcastic sort of smile, and pressed a container into Chian's hands. She took said container from him with a wider smile.

"I think Ghost saw us. You go left, I'll go right," he explained.

"Have fun kids," she called, as she melded into the gathered crowd, "and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Especially you Pix!"

Pixie watched her friend disappeared into the crowd, hiding from whoever this Ghost character was. Her friends seemed to be ready to have whatever passed for fun at these kinds of things. She was just a little more than ready to leave.

"When is this thing going to start?" Ngaio asked, hoping to get a response from anyone around her.

As if on cue, an elder man appeared over the crowd. He raised his arms, gathering all his attention toward the one spot on the far wall. It was an eerie feeling, all eyes, more eyes than Pixie could ever comprehend, on one tiny location.

Time seemed to move in molasses slow globs as the man spoke of how proud he was to see such a large group of recruits come out of the Academy and head into the fleet. He wished them well, all the luck in the world and safe passage on all their journeys. He expressed the fact that these wishes came from Zion as a whole, not just a single figure. The entire population, as it was, was behind them one thousand percent. The roar that accompanied the ending of the address made Pixie believe that fact was true.

No sooner had the elder man stepped off the raised platform then the drumming began.

The dance, as it was, had started.


	33. The Middle

AN: Hiya everyone! Welcome back to my little misadventure or, at least, this part of my little misadventure. I'm not entirely sure where I want to cut this part off and being the sequel to this story. Pixie's little misadventure has a sequel (or possibly two) sort of following her strange adventures. Adventures that involve plenty of cannon characters and something that amounts to the love triangle part of the story. Well, a strange kind of triangle anyway because two of the parties hate each other and the third party is confused about the whole thing. I do promise, however, this misadventure will not turn into a strictly "romance" related story. There's plenty of fighting and Matrix-y goodness in the story. (Some _Animatrix_ related goodness too!) Anywho, please keep up the reviews and let me know whatever you think about the story! Good, bad, or indifferent….I just like hearing what people think. As always, I appreciate any reviews! All of you guys rock like boxes of socks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"It just takes some time, little girl

You're in the middle of the ride.  
Everything (everything) will be just fine,

Everything (everything) will be alright (alright)." (from "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World)

"I'm going to get something to drink," Pixie called voice nearly inaudible over the din in the cave.

If her friends had heard her, they made no attempt to stop her from walking off. They were busy at the moment trying to get awkward limbs to behave in time with the loud music.

Most of them, anyway.

Wheeler, like her, was just standing there looking more than a little confused. He was "dancing" with Aisling, if it could even be called that. It was more like Wheeler was standing there with a shocked face as Aisling tried to direct him in the finer points. For a split second, Pixie thought he caught her eye as she walked away but she figured she was imagining things.

The young girl with the waist length hair walked away from her friends very glad her face was as red as a beet. It made her look like she had been dancing, not blushing from the actions of all those around her. In truth, Pixie had just been standing there with an expression of growing shock and surprise on her face.

Sure, Pixie's given age, as of that day anyway in Matrix years, eighteen but she was a very young eighteen, so to speak. At most she was a student, a medic in training who knew the anatomy of the human form and the purpose of each part. At the very least, she was just a young girl with no experience in matters like these. In matters of connecting with others in such a way as everyone seemed to be connecting at the moment.

Everywhere, right, left, in front, behind, people moved in groups of twos and threes. Connection seemed to be the purpose of the evening...with friends and with strangers. For some odd reason, everyone wanted to be a tiny part of some communal whole that had begun to take shape. It was like the many small cells that made up an organ getting together to form that organ during development. Pixie wasn't really sure what was developing now but she was almost sure she didn't want to know.

To Pixie, a lone figure on the vast floor who was fighting her way through the crowd, it was all very strange and very foreign. It was also an unwelcome sight, one she'd much rather forget. It made her blush a vivid crimson, made her feel very uncomfortable.

Sure she had connections with friends and with whatever passed for her family in Zion but that was it. Around other people, Pixie was shy and tentative. Even around her friends- well, allies really except for, maybe, Wheeler- she wasn't always open mouthed and loud about things.

There was a wide bar- It looked like a bar to Pixie, anyway- carved out of the rock on one side of the vast cavern. Men and women sat around the bar; drinking themselves deeper into whatever fervor they were feeling. Most were standing rather close together, a veritable wall of people that Pixie knew she had to get through.

Squeezing into a space between two couples and, mentally, thanking whoever was listening out there for her small size, Pixie found herself a place at the bar. She may have earned herself a few dirty looks in the process since she might have, accidentally, stepped on a few toes in order to get herself close enough to the rocky structure.

"Water, please?" she called, shouting over to the burly looking man who was tending the bar.

He regarded Pixie for a moment, staring at her and furthering her feelings of discomfort. His gaze was not exactly friendly and where his eyes lingered wasn't exactly polite. Pixie crossed her arms over where, arguably, her chest was supposed to be. That seemed to be the thing to do but, given the circumstances, Pixie wasn't so sure.

"That it?" he asked in a gruff voice, "You sure you don't want something a bit stronger."

She nodded, answering, "Just water, please."

Pixie had no intention of drinking herself into a homemade alcohol induced stupor. Not when she had to report to work in the morning. First impressions were important, or so she had been told, and Pixie wanted to make a good first impression. Make whoever she was working for think they'd made the right decision choosing her. Not make them regret it by turning up half in a stupor or worse. She had no desire to make whoever she was working for think they'd gotten themselves a silly kid instead of a properly trained medic.

The bartender walked off, returning moments later with a beverage container. He stared at Pixie for a moment, ignoring what she thought was her sternest expression. Pixie was, by no means, a master of the "scary, intimidating" face. That was more Aisling's department anyway.

"Your water," he said in a mocking tone, pressing the container towards Pixie and forcing her to uncross her arms in order to accept it.

She paid and turned, intending on going back to finding her friends and telling them she was leaving. She still had to pack and do a few things in order to get ready to leave the next day. This might have been fun for the others but this was, definitely, not her sort of party.

"What's a pretty lady like you doing here all by yourself?" came a voice from over her shoulder, "Don't have anyone to dance with?"

A hand snaked over her shoulder, trying to pull her into the owner of the voice's embrace. A hand that Pixie was sure she didn't recognize along with the voice. There was a familiar something about the voice but Pixie didn't know what that was. Maybe someone she'd had class with or spoken to for some odd reason.

"I'll dance with you," the voice whispered, "I'll keep you entertained all night long if you play your cards right."

"Please, leave me alone. I'm fine, really. I don't want any trouble," Pixie blurted, side stepping the arm.

"Come on doll," the voice said, reaching around and grabbing her shoulder, "Don't you want to go have a good time before going out into the big bad war. This could be your last night here."

Again the man, whose face Pixie couldn't see because he was reaching for her around another person, placed his hand on Pixie's shoulder. The hand tightened uncomfortably, almost squeezing the boney appendage that was Pixie's shoulder.

"The lady said, don't touch her," another voice quipped, slapping the hand off of Pixie's shoulder, "and a gentleman always respects a lady."

The voice was familiar, was one Pixie recognized. It was the slightly Texan accented voice that belonged to Wheeler. Apparently, he had heard her when she said she as leaving and decided to follow her. Why he decided to do that was beyond Pixie but she was really glad he did. Good timing, in her mind, was too weak a phrase for Wheeler's sudden appearance.

"She don't belong to you buddy," the voice attached to the hand, "She's just as free as the next girl. I don't see anything on her with your name on it and there's no ring on her finger."

Wheeler gave Pixie a small smile, a smile to tell her that he was going to be her knight in shining armor and defend whatever honor she had. She didn't need to run this time, he was here to watch her back. He was going to do what his instincts were screaming at him to do. As he use to do for his younger brother when he was living in the Matrix, he was going to protect Pixie.

"Consider her under my protection," Wheeler told the owner of the arm, stepping closer to Pixie.

With those around the bar giving the group a wide space and some watching events unfold, he threw his own arm around Pixie, who did not shy away. With her friend at her side, she started to understand how come everyone here was searching for someone to connect with. This was a new feeling for her and a strange one too. For so long, she'd felt like a member of the little group of friends she and Wheeler belonged to in name only. Now she understood that, maybe, just maybe, she was connected to them too. A connection, she figured, that was just a little deeper with Wheeler because of their past together in the Matrix.

The owner of the arm, knocking several people aside, lunged at Wheeler. Who ever he was, he was obliviously displeased with the scruffy male's sudden appearance and his actions.

Pixie never got to see the other male's face, as he rushed past her so quickly. He was more interested in doing something to Wheeler than her, she guessed. All she did catch was a horrible looking tattoo on his upper right shoulder. It was an outline of an image, done all in blacks. The image of some sort of bird of prey, eyes wide and wild, beak open in a screech, sharp deadly looking claws poised to snatch something from the ground.

It was the bird's prey that gave Pixie pause and disgusted her even further. The bird's talons were set to snatch a small rabbit with innocent, unknowing eyes.

The crowd around the bar turned to watch the two young men beat the stuffing out of each other. What they saw, really, was a one sided fight, where Wheeler got the better of the boy with the tattoo on his shoulder. Just a few swings, really, and the tattooed male melted back into the crowd. Pixie guessed, he hadn't counted on Wheeler fighting back.

Wheeler stood, dusting of the front of his shirt, and walked back over to a thoroughly shocked Pixie. He, himself, looked a little embarrassed by everything. His ears were pink tinged and his smile was sheepish in nature.

"Had to defend your honor, my lady," he laughed with a mock bow.

She smiled and, staring at her feet, stammered "Thank you, Wheeler. What can I do in return?"

Wheeler thought for a minute, trying to decide what to ask of his friend. He, actually, hadn't expected her to ask for anything in return and he really didn't want anything from her. In his mind, Wheeler was just doing what he felt was right.

"You know what, Pix, I'd like one dance with you. Just one. You're the only person, out of all of us, who hasn't danced tonight," Wheeler answered, a shy smile on his face.


	34. Bailamos

AN: Hiya everyone! I'm not exactly having the best week or so ever but that's to be expected, I guess, since finals are coming up. I'm literally up to my ears in papers and index cards. Well, the papers are for one of my classes and the index cards, well, the index cards are for studying everything else. I rewrite all of my notes on index cards and carry them around with me like strange security blankets. I may not look at them but, hey, I have them with me and that has to count for something. I just spent the past few days helping my sister write papers for her classes- All the while working on a paper I have to write- and teaching my twelve year old cousin how to use Power Point. I'm totally going to have a party when this semester ends. Alright, maybe not a party but I'm going to sit around and do nothing for a day or so. I hope you're all having good luck with school and things, though! Anywho, this chapter was a bit wonky for me. Really, really hard to write when I went to write it the first time. Please let me know what you think about it! Reviews are always appreciated…good, bad, or indifferent!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Tonight we dance  
I leave my life in your hands  
We take the floor   
Nothing is forbidden anymore

Don't let the world in outside  
Don't let a moment go by  
Nothing can stop us tonight" (from "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias)

Pixie looked at her friend in amazement. She hadn't expected that to be his request. She was, sort of, hoping that it would be something simple like a drink from the bar. It struck her as odd that Wheeler- who seemed to understand that a great many things made Pixie uneasy- was asking for such a thing. He had to know that this was one situation she was most definitely not keen on.

Even if he didn't her dislike for their current situation was written over her face, plain as day in the Matrix.

"A dance, Wheeler?" she asked, sounding baffled, "I don't know how to dance like this. I'm not even sure you want to call this dancing."

"Neither do I," Wheeler commented, shrugging his shoulders, "We didn't have this back where I was from. Come on, Pix, it'll be fun. At least, it'll be an adventure anyway."

He gave her a smile. The look he was wearing fell somewhere between looking afraid of being turned down and innocent. Wheeler understood, full well, that he was asking Pixie for something she might not be willing to even try. If she were to turn him down, Wheeler decided he wouldn't have any hurt feelings.

Pixie didn't want to dance. She didn't want to go back out into that crowd of people and have to face being surrounded by a crowd that was doing things she wasn't really keen on seeing.

Then again, she felt bad saying "no" to Wheeler too. After all, he had just helped her out of a rather…sticky…situation to say the least. It seemed, to Pixie that saying "no" now would have just been rude of her. She did owe Wheeler something and, even if she didn't like the idea, she guessed she had to dance with him. Just because it was the nice thing to do.

"I guess one dance wouldn't hurt," she replied, sounding as nervous as she felt, "you did just save my skin back there and I'd rather dance with someone I know than some creepy stranger."

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Wheeler lead Pixie back out onto the main floor. He was smiling brightly; glad Pixie was going to allow him his dance. Wheeler wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do once they got back into the crowd but he figured they'd manage something.

The scruffy blond male had no interest in dancing like the others on the floor. To him, that didn't seem like something he wanted to do with Pixie. He just wanted to have fun with one of his best friends, the one he always felt like he had to protect for some reason.

The Pod Born female was feeling exceedingly uncertain and uncomfortable as Wheeler led her back towards the dance floor. She knew she was going to wind up looking foolish. She had never learned how to dance when she was trapped in the Matrix. Pixie had been too busy trying to stay alive so she really didn't have any time. Not that the opportunity ever arose either but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

There were other things Pixie was concerned about. Namely, trying to survive the next few moments and figure out a way to, politely, excuse herself from Wheeler's company and head home for the evening.

Pixie's stomach gave an uncomfortable flip, feeling as if it was fully of angry butterflies that were trying to get out, while her heart started pounding like a small bird trying to get out of its cage. She kept reminding herself that Wheeler would never do anything bad to her. That he only meant well but it was hard for her to remember that as nervous as she was.

Deep down inside, so far down that she wasn't truly aware of it, someplace that was most definitely not her head because her rational mind was screaming for her to get away, Pixie was not really worried. Since her freeing from both the Matrix and the pod she had existed in for most of her young life, Wheeler had always been at her side.

He always seemed to be around when she needed him, ready to jump in on her behalf. She use to balk at the idea that she ever wanted someone to help her like that- Pixie never like asking for help nor did she ever admit to needed any help.- but that seemed silly now. She like having him around and not just to rescue her.

If she thought the music was loud near the bar it was positively defending out on the dance floor. The music was so loud that one could feel it in their bones, almost rattling them around underneath the skin. Pixie feared that her ear drums would burst from the music's volume.

Pixie looked around her, gaze finally coming to rest on Wheeler. It seemed that everyone on the dance floor was in their own world---just them and their partners. No one was really paying attention to them and, for that, the young girl was grateful. At least no everyone out on the floor was looking at her. It just seemed to be Wheeler and, even that, made Pixie blush a vivid crimson.

Catching her totally off guard and causing her to nearly step back into another couple, Pixie felt Wheeler take her hand and begin to move to the rhythm of the music. The music seemed to take over her body as she moved in time with his or, at least, tried to anyway. She was glad to see that dancing was not a strong suit of Wheeler's either. His abilities, his skills, were probably limited more towards the baseball field in the Matrix. There he wouldn't be so awkward because he knew what he was doing. Part of Pixie didn't feel as awkward since Wheeler was just as awkward as she was.

Pixie was almost ready to admit she was having fun and it was a nice feeling. She'd almost forgotten how to have fun. With training and everything, fun was something Pixie almost had to make time for. It was between something related to her education and slacking off and having a good time. Well, it was almost a given Pixie chose school over fun.

Pixie was finally beginning to get into her own world, becoming one with the pounding music, when she was pushed by a couple very close to her. She'd been so preoccupied with paying attention to Wheeler and trying not to step on his bare feet- Her own had been squished once or twice by her well meaning friend- that she failed to notice the others around her.

Drawing on his baseball skills, Pixie found herself not hitting the ground as she expected to do. Instead, she pitched forward and Wheeler managed to catch her, so to speak, so she didn't hit the ground. She looked into his eyes, noting for the first time their exact shade of hazel. His face was rather close to hers, deepening her blush to an almost inhuman shade of red.

Everything around them stopped moving. For a brief moment it was just the two of them on the dance floor. The rest of the vast crowd seemed to vanish in Pixie's mind. Panic flared in the young girl as she decided the two of them were way to close for her comfort.

Wheeler was enjoying himself, surprised that Pixie seemed to be having a good time too, when Pixie was pushed into his arms. It took a split second for Wheeler to decide what to do. Catching Pixie, much to his surprise, was about as easy as catching an underhand throw from a first baseman while covering first base. He never realized that Pixie was as wiry as she was and how well she fit in his arms.

Different emotions blended into a confusing jumble for the scruffy blond boy. He always felt he had to protect her but he always owed that feeling to the fact he had a younger brother in the Matrix. Wheeler had no younger brother here so he decided that Pixie could fill that role nicely. She was far too nice a person to say anything to anyone and that included people like Hawk who had treated her poorly and she was too shy to do so to begin with.

At the moment, though, Wheeler didn't just feel protective. Something clicked in his mind, something the scruffy blond boy didn't even know he was considering. When he was around Pixie, he felt important around her and needed. But in the moment she was in his arms Wheeler almost didn't know what to think. As close as they were standing, he noticed just why Pixie's moniker fit her. She had almost pixie-like features but, still, they weren't strange looking. She was pretty in a usual sort of way.

Then reality came back. Reared its ugly head like it always did.

Music still blared from every angle, echoing off the wall of the cave. Wheeler broke from his reverie and realized he was still holding on to Pixie. The young girl looked rather embarrassed, her eyes trying to focus on anything but her scruffy blond friend.

"Sorry, Pix," Wheeler mumbled, helping her right herself on the floor.

Pixie, still dizzy from the moment as her mind whirled to try and get everything back in working order, smiled nervously at him. She didn't want to say that she didn't like dancing with Wheeler because that wasn't totally true but she didn't want to admit, on the same token, that she was totally comfortable either. Whatever she was feeling, well, it was scaring the devil out of her.

"Don't worry Wheeler, not your fault," she assured her friend, "Too many people on the dance floor I guess and I wasn't paying attention."

Wheeler noticed the fact Pixie was blushing a particularly vivid shade of crimson and felt the heat of embarrassment creeping up his neck. What in the world had just happened? Everything had been going so well.

"Yeah way too many people….we can move back over to the bar if you want? Maybe we've danced enough today," he suggested, with a sheepish shrug.

Wheeler hoped that Pixie didn't think he was being smart, catching her the way he had, and trying to get something from her. All he wanted was to have a bit of fun- Maybe the last bit of fun he ever had. - with one of his best friends before heading out into a war zone. Fate had just played a cruel joke on them, that's all.

"No... I don't mind staying on the dance floor. Just have to be more aware of the others around us. Some observant medic I am," she said, trying to make a joke and not really having any success as the music changed to a more fevered and blaring rhythm.

They moved in silence each mulling over the scenario that had just place. Though they were teenagers, in every sense of the word, they had no frame of reference for something like this. There was no mass media to tell them how to act, to give them an image of what to do. They had grown up in a cave, near the center of the earth under constant threat from above. All they had to go on were their nascent feelings.

Pixie kept going over what had just happened in her mind. Was there more then just friendship for her and Wheeler? To her amazement, in that brief moment when she was in his arms she felt feelings awaken from deep within her, feelings she wasn't aware she had. Ones she decided were just there because of the moment, because of what was going on around them and what they were headed out to do. She was a scientist after all. A creature that prided herself on logic above anything else. Logic could be trusted where feelings could not.

"Wait a minute! This is Wheeler your thinking about! He's your buddy…just your friend!" she admonished herself as she looked at him dancing in front of her.

By the look in his face she could see that he was fighting with himself just as she was. She needed to stop thinking. That was easier said than done, though, as Pixie often thought. She made a habit out of thinking about everything, something Aisling found incredibly amusing for some odd reason.

"Just enjoy yourself tonight silly! This could be the last time you have fun in a while" she told herself, trying to smile again and go back to having what passed for fun at the moment.

Being with him was a nice feeling and tomorrow they would be going their separate ways as a result of their new assignments so Pixie was going to make this night as fun as she possibly could.

The music was fast and powerful. Anybody would be engulfed by it in moments.

Chian loved to dance and was happy to be with Sparks, even if he was a bit sarcastic, and to be near friends. They danced together as if one body and that was fine with Chian. She knew he was enjoying it as much as she was.

She was even more delighted when she saw Wheeler steer Pixie onto the dance floor. There was something about the two of them that Chian couldn't pinpoint. Something she was sure the two of them might not understand either but it was there. There in the way Wheeler protected Pixie and in the way Pixie always seemed to turn to Wheeler for back-up.

"What are you thinking about?" Sparks asked her as he watched Chian turn inward for a moment.

"Oh, nothing just feeling the music is all," she said as he grabbed her even closer to him.

Chian watched as her two friends- One she considered to be like a little sister to her-become so absorbed in each other and everything around them. The older female watched as another couple got very close to Pixie and her scruffy friend. In a blink of an eye she saw Pixie get pushed from behind by the couple. She watched as Wheeler instinctively helped his arms out to keep her from falling.

Then she saw their eyes meet and in that instant knew what is was about them that she couldn't figure out. The something she was almost sure they didn't know yet either.

As far as she was concerned, this was a most interesting night after all.


	35. You've Got a Friend in Me

AN: Hi everyone! I just came back from the baseball game (The New York Mets playing against the New York Yankees in part one of the Subway Series) and I'm pretty excited. My New York Mets beat the rival New York Yankees. The game was a lot of fun and it took my mind off of the fact that I have finals this week. Finals always make me nervous for some odd reason. I also saw _The DaVinci Code_ Friday night after Girl Scouts. The movie was very good but, like in most cases, the book was better! I will, however, give Tom Hanks credit for playing a good Robert Langdon in the movie. I had my doubts but he did a really good job. Anyway, back to the story! Thanks for the reviews everyone, especially on that chapter. It was really hard to write because I'm not much for writing stories with romantic undertones. This whole thing sort of happened by accident! Please keep the reviews coming though! They're always appreciated!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"There isn't anything  
I wouldn't do for you  
We stick together, we can see it through  
Cause you've got a friend in me" (From "You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman)

Pixie wasn't exactly sure how long she and Wheeler remained at the Gathering but she knew it had to be quite a while. Of course, they'd only had one or two dances after the first.

The rest of the time they spent looking for their friends. The plan had been, according to Wheeler who had heard it from Aisling, that they bunch of them were going to leave together since they'd all come together.

There was just one small hitch in Aisling's plan, as far as Pixie could see.

They'd lost their friends someplace in the vast crowd, even as it began to dissipate. It almost looked as if no one had left even though Pixie could plainly see people leaving the Gathering and heading home. There were many who were leaving because they had places to be later on in the day- Since it was well past midnight- but others were leaving because they had other things planned. She guessed

It was just the two of them, together but alone, to walk back to their respect homes. Neither of them wanted to say anything to the other for some strange reason. Stranger still was the fact, they two of them were always able to talk freely with each other. Even for someone who was as shy as Pixie was, talking to Wheeler was something she found surprisingly easy. This fact she chalked up to their past in the Matrix.

Now an uncomfortable silence hung between them. Something awkward, it seemed, had happened and neither one of them knew how to approach it. Instead, they took the route of discretion being the better part of valor. Except, in this case, it was making it hard to walk home together.

There was just one little issue with the whole thing. It seemed they seemed to be taking the long way home.

Pixie never realized just how long the route from the Temple to her home was. For her it was just a quick walk at the longest. Unless they were taking the scenic rout, trying to avoid the vast crowds that spilled from the Temple and onto the dimly lit Zion streets.

People seemed to still show an interest in making connections or something to that effect because every one appeared to be walking away from the Gathering with, at least, one other person. No one was alone for the time being.

"You know, you don't have to walk me back," Pixie stated, trying not to sound rude and making sure to avoid anything that remotely resembled eye contact.

The young girl didn't exactly relish the odd quiet that had appeared between her and her friend. It was frightening her and forcing her mind to keep replaying what had taken place in the Temple. Something had happened there and she didn't know what it was. Whatever it was, Pixie decided, had frightened her enough. That said, she didn't want to dwell on it.

Wheeler, apparently, found humor in her comment. He gave a slight laugh and shook his head. He wasn't laughing at Pixie, by any means. It was just that the answer was rather obvious to him. It was part of how he'd been raised back in Arcadia, Texas.

"It's what us gentlemen do. We walk the lady to her door and see that she gets inside safely. Besides, I don't like the idea of letting you walk home by yourself. There are too many people like that guy from before- The one from the bar- out tonight. I'd be angry with myself if I didn't make sure you got back safely," Wheeler explained, in a matter of fact tone.

Though it had been fake, like a video game, every lesson he had learned from his very much Southern "parents" and "grandparents" had stuck with Wheeler. He was a hacker, no doubt about that, but he's been groomed as the perfect gentleman too. There were just certain things his mother and grandmother had insisted he know, like how to treat a lady and show her respect.

Sort of like the pitching lessons his father had given him, except for the fact what he learned from his mother and grandmother had next to nothing to do with baseball. The pitching lessons had been a bit more fun when Wheeler first started with them but, towards the end, just before he took the red pill, they were no longer enjoyable either. Especially once his father started suggesting he take "supplements" in order to get more speed on his fastball.

Pixie gave a nervous giggle, something she found she only did in front of Wheeler. She hadn't even known she knew how to giggle like a schoolgirl before meeting him. Usually, she just quietly laughed at things or she'd just give a very sheepish looking smile. Giggling was something she, normally, did.

"Oh….thank you, I guess," Pixie answered, feeling her face turn red, "I didn't think of that."

"It's not a problem, Pix," Wheeler stated with a laugh of his own, "It's really nothing. I don't mind walking you back at all."

He, like Pixie, was still trying to rationalize what had just happened. It was proving to be quite difficult for the scruffy haired male to figure out what exactly he'd felt when he caught Pixie earlier on in the evening. It wasn't something Wheeler thought he'd felt before, at least consciously anyway. Maybe it was an unconscious thing or something like that.

Either way, Wheeler was torn. Part of him wished those feelings would have just stayed in his unconscious mind but another part of him was almost glad these feelings had appeared. Perhaps they were a clue meant to unlock something else in his heart or mind. Wheeler just wished that, if it was the latter, things made a bit more sense and didn't leave awkward silences between him and his best friend.

The young pair walked for what seemed like an eternity, moving along the metal streets of Zion. The city was growing quiet as people found their homes and turned in for the night. Here and there, pockets of rowdy people stood. Some were belting out versions of Matrix songs that left much to be desired. Others loudly argued with each other in a drunken sort of way.

"This is your room, right?" Wheeler asked, breaking yet another uncomfortable silence that had cropped up between him and Pixie.

Pixie's attention- Attention that had been wandering just to keep her mind off of the person walking with her- snapped back into the moment. She looked at the door, alike in every way to the others on her level and every other level in Zion, and knew instantly it was hers. The pattern of scratches and rust was something she learned to use to help in distinguish her door from the rest.

"Yeah, this is it. I should get going. I have an early call time tomorrow," she babbled, leaning her back against the red door.

It seemed almost a lifetime ago that she'd been trying to hide behind the door, begging Aisling and the others just to leave her here and not force her to go to the Gathering with them. There was something different now, something other than the fact Pixie knew she was heading out into the unknown a bit later in the morning. She didn't know what that difference was, though, and she was trying not to consider it.

Now that the night was winding to a close, thoughts of where she would be later were in her head too. Thoughts that involved her heading into situations that were deadly and dangerous to say the least.

"You've been real quiet tonight, Pix. Quieter than I've seen you since Hawk pulled that stunt on you. What's wrong? You didn't have fun?" Wheeler questioned, sounding concerned.

"No, I had fun," she answered, speaking slowly, "it's just that I'd never done anything like that before. Never had the opportunity. I wasn't able to in the Matrix."

"If it makes you feel any better, neither have I. I guess we all have our firsts here," Wheeler stated with an absent minded shrug, "I had a good time, though…even if I didn't know how to dance.

Pixie turned to enter her small home, beat a hasty retreat and trying to find sleep. It would do her no good to be tired the next morning when she went down to the docks to find out what ship she had been assigned. If there was even a ship and this whole thing wasn't just a huge joke someone had decided to play on her.

A though occurred to her, forcing her to turn back to Wheeler. She hadn't said "good night" to him nor had she thanked him for walking her back. Very rude indeed and Pixie was one who never liked to be rude. She wanted to Wheeler to know that she appreciated the dance and the fact he'd been so very nice to her.

Opening her mouth to say what she felt she had to say, Pixie found that an odd sort of smile was on Wheeler's face. It was half nervous, half mischievous...all strange. It was sort of like the smile Aisling and the rest of their friends dubbed the "Pixie" smile. A smile that was more mischief than anything else.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Wheeler took one of Pixie's hands and pressed something into her palm. Using his hands, he closed her fist around whatever he had just placed in her palm.

Pixie had not a clue what was going on and the look she was giving Wheeler let him know that fact. Her head was cocked to one side while her expression was plainly curious.

"Don't think I forgot about your birthday," he said with a sly smile.

"It's not my Real World Birthday; it's just my Matrix birthday. I'm not even sure if that counts as an actual event because I was never really born," she stated, starting at her closed fist.

Wheeler just gave another shrug and responded, "The lady I use to live with said that a birthday is a birthday no matter what. She was the one who told me to make sure to get you something. Besides, this is a big deal birthday for you and you got me something for mine, remember?"

For his eighteenth birthday, Pixie had managed to get Wheeler an actual book- Rescued from the surface and brought to Zion- about baseball. It had been well mended and Rain had helped her find it. It had cost quite a bit but, thankfully, Rain had helped her haggle the price, down to something manageable for Pixie.

Pixie, at Wheeler words, opened her hand. In the center of her palm lay a metallic charm at the end of fine metal chain. The chain alone must have cost a fortune. A fortune, she knew, Wheeler didn't have. The charm hanging off of said chain was of a small, metallic fairy. The little wings on its back made it appear to fly in profile.

"Wheeler, you shouldn't have. Not at all," she stated, trying to hand him back the object.

He danced just out of her reach, avoiding her hands. His hands were in the pockets of his pants, where he'd been hiding that small item most of the night as he tried to work up the nerve to even give it to her.

"Natasa said that she knew how to make things like this protect people. Not sure I believe it but I figured since we're going out there tomorrow and all..." he said, tailing off as he lost the words he wanted to use.

Pixie nodded her head, clearly understanding what he was talking about. Tomorrow was a big day for all of them. A day that could be the beginning of the next adventure or the beginning of the end depending on what fate had in store.

"I get what you mean. I could use all the help I can get, going out there tomorrow but you really didn't have to," she stated, fumbling with the clasp on the chain.

"It was nothing, Pix, really. You're my friend. Besides you gave me that awesome book for my birthday," Wheeler countered.

"Thank you, then. I really appreciate it," Pixie said, sheepishly as she couldn't get the chain around her neck.

Wheeler took the item from her, opening its small clasp and helping Pixie to get it around her neck. Pixie, herself, was blushing a bright crimson as Wheeler helped her out.

"You know, maybe I can meet you here tomorrow and we can meet up with the others and walk down to the docks. It might be the last time we get to see each other alive," Wheeler broached, carefully.

"That's not true," Pixie countered, "this war's not going to take any of us. I'm sure of it. There's always going to be some reason for us to pull through this entire mess. We're all coming back here to see each other again."

Pixie was well aware of just how insane that sounded but it was what she believed in her heart. They were all going to be alright in the end. It might have been just a fool's hope but it was still enough to keep Pixie happy. She didn't want to have to imagine losing any of her friends. Not until that ugly truth was staring her in the face.

"Whatever you say, Pix. If you say we're all going to stay alive, we're going to do just that. At least, I'm going to make sure I try to," Wheeler stated, speaking as if he actually knew that for certain.

Pixie wasn't sure why that comment made her blush deepen. It just did and that seemed to be that.

She turned her eyes back down and mumbled, "So, here tomorrow bright and early?"

"Yeah. I'd better go. Early call time tomorrow like you," he mentioned.

"Yeah...so, see you tomorrow then," Pixie called turning and entering her own home.

Sleep was a long time coming for the young rebel. Thoughts of the present and of the future were taking turns playing in the open expanses of her mind. Everything was change so fast- too fast for her linking- and Pixie felt powerless to stop it. Certainly she knew things had to change but it still felt like things were just moving too quickly for her.

Pixie knew, when she awoke from her sleep that she was heading into a whole new world. A world she wasn't quite sure she was ready for but she knew she was going to give it her all. After all, that was the only way Pixie knew to do things. Give it everything she had until she could give no more.


	36. A Thousand Words

AN: Hiya everyone! Hope everyone's having a good end to the school year! At the moment, I'm off from school but I have to take this month long lab class in June. I guess I should be thankful for it. It'll give me something to do for a month other than run back and forth between my house and dance classes or Girl Scouts. Speaking of Girl Scouts, my troop took about eighty kids and parents to the circus this past weekend. The show was pretty good and the kids behaved themselves. I guess because they were with their parents. I also saw _X-Men: The Last Stand _this past weekend. The movie was pretty good and the science in its science fiction was relatively interesting. I do believe I was the only person walking out of the theater talking about all the science and not the special effects or anything like that. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! You guys rock like boxes of socks! Please keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"I acted so distant then  
Didn't say goodbye before you left  
But I was listening  
You'll fight your battles far from me  
Far too easily…" (from "1000 Words" from Final Fantasy X-2)

Five backpacks rested on ten sagging shoulders. It was not the weight of the packs that was causing the sagging for they were relatively empty save for a few items of clothing and personal trinkets. It was common knowledge that ships weren't exactly spacey and only the barest of essentials should be brought along. It was hard to reduce one's entire existence to just a few items but they had all tried their best.

Pixie decided that she was rather lucky because the most personal of her items was hanging around her neck, tucked into the frayed collar of the pale blue sweater she had donned before being picked up at her home a scant few minutes earlier. She hadn't told any of her other friends about Wheeler's gift, knowing that, if she did, she'd never hear the end of it. It just seemed better to keep it between her and Wheeler for some odd reason.

It weight of the entire world- Real and otherwise- appeared to rest on the shoulders of the five eighteen year olds who weaved their way through the Zion docks. The full extent of what they were headed into seemed to have settled on them during the night. They were no longer the joyous and, in Pixie's case, nervous individuals of the night before. They all seemed graver, more serious and adult like than any of them ever had been before. It was almost as if the space between going to bed and waking up had been filled with growing up rather than restful sleep.

"Let's leave those two alone. I think their good byes are going to take a while," Wheeler suggested, ushering Pixie down the length of rock and metal that served as a walk way.

Their first stop had been docking bay six or seven, Pixie didn't recall clearly, where they had dropped Ngaio at _The Crystal Star_. Once there the Asian girl had hugged nearly all of her friends, promising to let them know how things were on her new ship. The exception to the rule had been Adoh. Much to everyone's surprise, she kissed the Zion born boy on the mouth and ran, giggling, into the waiting ship.

Pixie gawked at what had just transpired; turning a very interesting shade of red, while Wheeler blinked a few times and found someplace else to turn his hazel gaze. If Pixie was gawking, than Aisling was outright staring with an expression that appeared to be a mix of utter shock and total confusion.

"How long have you and she been…you know…whatever you two are," Aisling asked her brother as they walked away from the ship.

Her voice reflected her expression as she stared at her younger sibling with very wide eyes. For all of this to happen between her brother and her friend behind her back came as a shock to Aisling. Aisling was one of those people who liked to know everything that was going on around her and figured she had a pretty good handle on that fact.

"I could ask the same about you and that Zion born boy from the temple yesterday. You two seemed awfully chummy," Adoh countered, turning the tables on his elder sister, "You know who I'm talking about. Right, sis?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about, Adoh. Maybe you're just imagining things. Mom always said you had a very active imagination," Aisling snapped back, not wanting to play her brother's game.

She wasn't really angry with Adoh and Ngaio. On the contrary, she was pleased because she knew her brother had a bit of a "crush" on the Asian girl from the Matrix. It was more like she was annoyed at herself for not noticing what had gone on between the two of them behind her back. Aisling was just taking it out on Adoh because she was loathe to be angry with herself.

"Come on, you know who I'm talking about!" Adoh insisted, getting frustrated with his sister.

Not wanting to see a fight start on this day of all days, Pixie decided to do something about the situation. She figured it wasn't a good thing for Aisling and Adoh to get on their ships angry with each other…just in case something horrible happened. She might have believed that they were all going to come back to Zion but the truth was that bad things happened and people never came back from the tunnels that surrounded Zion.

"Conall," Pixie interjected bringing up the mystery boy's name.

"Yeah, him. What's with the two of you?" he continued, making Pixie laugh.

"That, my dear little brother is between Conall and I. Well, and Pixie too when I get around to sending her a message," Aisling said, sounding rather petulant.

They continued to banter back and forth about people they knew and who was close to whom. Pixie was mildly relieved by the fact they didn't drag her and Wheeler's names into the whole mess. The warning looks Wheeler kept giving Aisling might have had a whole lot to do with why she didn't do that.

It might have actually been because they were concerned about the local gossip- unlikely because they never had been in the first place- or nerves forced chatter to continue as the they walked over to adjoining bays where the twins' ships waited.

Once the quartet reached the space between the twin bays, nervous chatter turned to even more nervous silence. The twins didn't seem comfortable taking off down separate ramps, entering into separate ships. They had, after all, been together all their lives. This was really the first time they'd be separated over long distances.

That was when Pixie and Wheeler decided to make their exit. Both figured the twins needed a moment or more together to say what amounted to a "good bye." Aisling wasn't going to crack if she saw Wheeler and Pixie standing there and Adoh would just continue to try and make bad jokes.

"So, what bay are you in, anyway?" Wheeler asked Pixie in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence that had welled up between the two of them.

It was different from the silence that had appeared between the two of them after the Gathering. Where that one was awkward, this one was contemplative. They were both thinking about what was to come and the "good byes" they had been saying. Their tight knit group of friends- Well, allies if you were Pixie- was dispersing to the four preverbal winds.

Everyone was going in their own directions now and, to Pixie, that seemed like an invitation for growing apart. Things were never going to be the same and part of her didn't like that. The last time her and her allies had a growing apart, she wound up in tears at the hands of Hawk. Pixie didn't want to go through that sort of things again.

"Ninety-Four. How about you?" she replied, her voice very small and soft.

"Ninety-Five. I could walk with you there, if you want. I mean, unless you prefer to walk there alone," he babbled with a slight shrug.

"I don't think I'd like to walk there alone, actually. Going to be weird enough working on a ship where I know no one," Pixie mused aloud.

"Unless, of course, it's a ship that belongs to someone Torrent introduced you too," Wheeler countered with a laugh.

Since Pixie kept her emotions under lock and key- She wasn't the type to wear her heart on her sleeve unless she was put under a great deal of stress- her blatant nervous feelings were making Wheeler uneasy, too. Well, more uneasy than he was already feeling. His nerves were already frayed as he worried about what he was getting himself into. It seemed to be natural, though, so Wheeler was trying not to make a big deal about it.

Pixie nodded her acceptance of that idea. Since coming to live with Torrent and Rain, she had been introduced to some of the captains of the fleet. Very few it seemed for she did not recognize the names of the ships Ngaio and Wheeler had been assigned to.

"That's true but I highly doubt it," she commented as their boots wore a path along the rock and metal floor, "I don't know everyone and this could all just turn out to be a strange joke. I don't know who'd play a prank like this on me but still…it could be."

They talked as they walked, speaking about everything save their dance the night before. Both were content to let that little part of their past fall by the way-side. It didn't seem so important at the moment anyway and neither wanted to make the other more uncomfortable. They were both uncomfortable enough as it was.

"So, would it be alright if I left you a message, once I figure out what ship I'm on? That way we can talk or something if we're at the same broadcast level," Pixie asked, standing with her back to docking bay ninety-four.

She was fiddling with one of her cuffs, fraying it further. Pixie wasn't sure what possessed her to make such a request but it already hung in the air between her and her scruffy male friend. There was no taking it back now.

"That would be cool. It'll be nice to be able to talk to someone since we'll both be on ships full of strangers," Wheeler agreed, a smile on his face.

A very uncomfortable silence passed between the two of them. Both knew what they had to do but neither one of them wanted to do it. Leaving meant accept the jobs they had been given. Leaving meant losing the peace and quiet they had in Zion for danger around every turn.

"I'd better get going. Don't want to make a bad first impression and all, first day on the job," Pixie said, turning towards the ramp.

She waved over her shoulder, taking the long walk from the mouth of the ramp to its end. A few feet had passed under her boots when Pixie suddenly had an urge to turn around and head back out of the ramp.

She did just that, though she was unsure why. It didn't make any logical sense to her. She knew she had to get going but she found herself flying along the length of the hallway

"Wheeler!" she called, darting back into the open hallway.

For a moment there was no response to her call, no one heading in her direction. Then a winded looking figure darted out of the walkway and headed in her direction wearing a very confused look on his face.

"What's wrong, Pix? Wrong bay?" Wheeler asked, skidding to a halt in front of Pixie.

"No, right bay. I was just thinking that maybe when we're both in Zion we can hang out or something," Pixie said, turning pink in the cheeks, "Since weren't not going to see anyone was often as we do now."

"I'd like that. It'll be fun," Wheeler said, pulling Pixie into a rather awkward looking hug, "I mean, you never know when one of us isn't going to be around to hang out anymore forever."

"I said no one's going to die in this war. I mean it," Pixie countered.

"And I said I believed you. I'm always going to come back here to see you," Wheeler assured her, "Don't worry about me. I was taught to keep my word back in the Matrix."

They broke the embrace and slowly but surely made their ways down the respective ramps. Pixie looked over her shoulder once, noticing that Wheeler was watching her walk. She waved to him and he returned the gesture. It was only then did he set off for his own ship.

Suddenly the ramp that had appeared to be only a few feet in length grew into a long mile. Pixie felt her legs turn to lead and her footfalls drag. Part of her mind was screaming for her to run away and hide in her bunker. Well, hide until Lock found her and chucked her into the stockade for shirking her assigned duties. She felt as if someone had slipped ice into her clothing, a chill seeping into her bones despite her warm surroundings.

The full extent of the situation she was walking into was settling into her mind. The face she was always safe was suddenly going to be negated. She was going from civilian to solider in a matter of moments. Not really something pleasant to have appear in ones mind at a moment's notice.

All thoughts were driven from her mind when she spotted the ship to which she had been assigned. Like some kind of odd starfighter out of Star Wars, sat a very familiar looking craft.

At the head of the ship's ramp was a figure she would recognize anywhere, though he looked a bit older. She had been somewhat younger, truth be told, when she last saw the craft that filled the bay in front of her. Still, it was a sight she wasn't going to forget any time soon.

"Welcome aboard, Pixie," intoned the familiar figure, he voice brining back many memories from her first few days in the Real World...well, conscious days.


	37. Landslide

AN: Sorry about the delay. I started my lab class this past week and things have been a bit crazy as I've tried to adjust my schedule yet. Thus far, I've been able to juggle this lab class, dance lessons, and Girl Scouts pretty well. The class, itself, is a lot of fun but it's also a lot of work. We're doing some pretty cool experiments while we learn how to use certain pieces of lab equipment. Actually, I'm excited because I got my first lab coat last Thursday. Now I look like an actual scientist instead of someone just doing things in the lab. It's pretty awesome! Anywho, sorry, again for the delay and I'll try not to slack off as much again. I really do want to get this story posted as it went through a period of really bad luck where nearly all of it was lost, save for a few parts, and it was only through sheer luck that I managed to get nearly all of it back. Though, a huge part had to be rewritten, including the part that is being posted now. Please, continue to read and review my little misadventure! I really do appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?  
Can I handle the seasons of my life?" ("Landslide" by Smashing Pumpkins)

"No way," Pixie breathed, not quite believing the site before her eyes, "This is not possible. My luck is not this good."

Yes, she was speaking to herself and that was probably not the smartest thing she could do. After all, talking to one's self had long since been established as a sign of insanity. Still Pixie could not believe the site before her eyes. It was definitely something she hadn't expected.

Of all the ships she had expected to see in the bay, the _Nebuchadnezzar_, the ships she had come in on, was the last one on the list. To get on one of the twelve original ships was the last thing she expected. She figured a certain amount of experience was required before getting a job on one of them. No fresh from the Academy newbie like her was going to get assigned. Such ships were too well recognized for some rookie to work on.

Rookies, by their very nature, made mistakes and those mistakes could reflect badly on the captain. The results of such mistakes might not be so damaging if the ship and its captain were not as well known.

At least, that's what Pixie assumed.

She blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes with the back of one had as if trying to banish the site before her. Still the ship stood there like a giant, hulking, metal brute and its captain watched her with an amused expression on his dark skinned face.

"Are you alright, Pixie?" questioned Morpheus, the figure at the end of the ramp.

His voice, though a few years had passed, still sent a chill down Pixie's spine. It was that deep, questioning sort of voice that resonated with a tone that was a mix of knowing and questioning all at once. It always seemed like he knew more than he was letting on. Even now, to Pixie, this seemed true as he questioned her about her feelings.

"Just more than a little taken aback, sir," Pixie started, trying to salvage what was left of her dignity, "I never expected this. Me being fresh from the Academy and all. I thought I'd bee on another ship so I could get more…practical experience and training."

Pixie's medical training was thorough but not really complete. She knew a great deal of things but there were still certain subtle skills she lacked. One such skill was hands on training in emergency situations. When she questioned her instructors on why she'd be allowed a job even though her skills lacked, the answer was strangely simple. It was the place of the ship's captain to fill in whatever blanks she had. It was up to him or her to decide what sort of specific training they needed.

"Some would feel your lack of actual experience in the Matrix would create a disadvantage for the crew involved. I do not feel that way. What training you need, you need and I will supply for you. We could use another medic on the ship anyway," Morpheus informed Pixie, Cheshire Cat smile on his face.

Taking that as a good enough reason for being assigned the job she had been, Pixie just gave a small smile. There was a certain sort of comfort to be had from working on a ship she knew. She really couldn't have asked for a better assignment, even though there was no guarantee that the crew would be the same as last time. People left posts and, sadly, people died. Crews changed with time and with circumstance.

Like a shadow, since Morpheus was still quite a bit taller than she was, Pixie followed the captain onto the ship. The ship appeared to be very much the same from when she was last on board and, much to her surprise; she seemed to remember where they were going. Her feet followed a path that she was shocked she remembered.

A path that seemed to take the pair to the Core and not to the cabins. Pixie assumed she'd be assigned a place to sleep- A place to call home while on the ship- before anything else. Maybe she'd be given time to get her few things in her room together as the ship left or something to that effect.

Her musings were interrupted by Morpheus informing her, "Just put your pack down for now. There is something I would like to do first."

Pixie did as she was told, putting her pack down next to two other battered satchels. She guessed that the two other satchels- from the look of them- belonged to other new crew members. Pixie figured it was probably a good thing because that meant she wasn't the only rookie on the craft. Perhaps they could work together- despite the fact they all had different specialties- and prevent embarrassing mistakes for the rest of crew.

Rolling her shoulders and trying to shrug some feeling back into them, Pixie noted that there were a few individuals in the suspended chairs that spanned across the middle of the room. Her memories of being in one of those chairs were not good ones and they ended with her getting violently ill and cracking her head on the wall.

Pixie knew she'd probably have to have a seat in one of those chairs sooner rather than later. It came with the job, after all. Still, knowing that didn't stop the nervous butterflies- or more nervous butterflies, Pixie wasn't sure- from taking flight in her stomach nor did it prevent her heart from pounding like a small bird beating its wings against the bars of its cage. In this case it was her heart against her ribs but she figured the analogy worked either way.

"Tank," Morpheus stated, his deep voice resonating in the metallic confines of the Core, "our final new arrival is here. Is everything else set up for the practice?"

Tank, turning away from the bevy of screens that ringed the Operator's Console, looked at Pixie for a long moment, as if he was trying to figure out just who she was. Only a handful of years had passed and Pixie figured there was very little that had changed about her. Her hair had gotten longer and she'd grown up some but she still resembled the same bald headed, wide eyed Pixie she'd once been.

"Pixie?" he asked, turning her name into a question, "Is that you?"

Pixie nodded, sheepish smile on her red tinged face. Her eyes were down; looking at her much scuffed and cleaned boots instead of making eye contact with the Operator.

Tank gave a low whistle and commented, "I almost didn't recognize you with all that hair, Pixie. You hardly had any when you left."

"I grew it back out to the length it use to be in the Matrix," Pixie mumbled, still feeling distinctly embarrassed for some reason.

Her reaction seemed to amuse Tank as he turned back to the screens calling, "Everything's ready, sir. All you have to do is jack Pixie in and we're all ready to start. The rest of them are inside already."

"Thank you Tank," Morpheus stated, beckoning for Pixie to follow him.

The odd looking pair- Odd only because Morpheus was quite tall and Pixie wasn't very tall- stopped at the chair hanging closest to the Operator's console. She still didn't know who hung in the other chairs nor did she have a clue what was going on. Asking seemed a bit rude to her so she waited for an explanation to come, if one was to come at all.

"For the moment, I am going to set this screen up for you but I can assure you that you will learn how to do this yourself in short order," Morpheus explained punching things into the screen that hung next to the chair.

Pixie, for her part, was already following Morpheus' swift, practiced movements with wide brandy brown eyes. His hands moved swiftly and she was having trouble keeping up with everything he did. She guessed this was the result of just repeating the motion many, many times. Still, she caught a few of the things he put into the console. Those few motions she caught she filed away in her memory.

"Of course sir," Pixie stated, taking a seat in said chair and waiting for what she knew was going to come next.

She just hoped that things would turn out better this time than the last. Pixie took a deep breath and let it out, trying to center and settle herself down. She didn't want to look as nervous as she felt.

"There is no need to be nervous, Pixie," Morpheus informed the young female, "this is just a simple little exercise in team work. Think of it as a variation of the Matrix game capture the flag. You are going to be met inside the program by two other individuals. They will explain the finer points of this exercise to you."

Pixie gave a nod or as much of a nod as she could as she was lying down on her back. She'd scooted herself a bit higher into the chair so the back of her head rested near the open portion of the chair.

Her hair hung on either side of the chair, allowing for easy access to the jack in the back of her head. Finding it through the heavy curtain that was her hair would have been next to impossible anyway. It was just easier for everyone this way.

"Are you ready?" Morpheus wanted to know, noting Pixie's pale face seemed just a bit paler than normal.

"As ready as I'll ever be, sir," she answered, before her ears popped and the world went dark.


	38. Memory

AN: Heya everyone! Hope everyone's having a good time as school is winding to a close. Actually, some of you may be out of school and that's just as cool. I have six more classes (four labs and then two classes) before I'm done. Well done for the summer anyway but that's still a good thing either way. I don't mind school- actually I like school- but have nothing against summer vacation either. I like being able to just hang around the house and read or play video games or whatever else I decide to do without having to worry about exams. Anywho…thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming. All of these chapters that I'll be posting have been sort of dredged up from my memory because I lost these chapters several times over. I appreciate any and all opinions on my little misadventure. I'm always open to hearing what people think and how I can improve things!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"This may never start  
Tearing out my heart  
Not be your memory  
Lost your sense of fear  
Feelings disappeared  
Could not be your memory…" (from "Memory" by Sugarcult)

The Construct was how Pixie remembered it, a vast, endless white space with no beginning and, certainly, no end. It was just a large room and she stood in one place in it. The idea of getting lost in the vast white plain and never being found wandered into her head, sitting down and making itself at home. Pixie, logically, knew that she'd eventually be found but still, the idea of getting lost in the construct was just a little unnerving to her.

Quelling the unreasonable fear with logic, Pixie decided to have a look at herself. She recalled the first time she'd come into the Construct as a recently awaked fifteen year old. Now she was arguably older- being eighteen and all- and wiser and was supposed to be an active member of the rebellion against the Machine World now.

Everyone in Zion's Academy knew stories of those who went into the Matrix.

Everyone knew they didn't dress like "normal" denizens of the false reality that so many of them use to call home. No, they were known for their blacks and leathers and dark shades. Things that set them apart from the rest of the plain clothes wearing, pod sleeping individuals that called the Matrix home. Sure there were a few of them who didn't adhere to the black on black that seemed to be standard Matrix uniform but they were a small minority. For whatever reason black on black was standard.

The first time she'd been in the Construct, Pixie recalled being in coveralls and a t-shirt. Her standard clothing in the Matrix. Generally what she wore to stay comfortable even when she wasn't feeling well. Now, though, that had been replaced by something Pixie hadn't really been expecting. She wasn't sure how clothing was chosen this time- maybe by commands typed in by Tank or Morpheus or by some unconscious metal choice of her own- but Pixie was almost sure she'd never even thought about dressing the way she was.

"You look like a spandex ninja," someone commented, catching Pixie off guard and making her jump.

A jump that was slightly higher than anything she'd be able to pull off outside the Construct but it wasn't all that noticeable. Just a small accident or something to that effect.

She turned, cocking her head to one side, as two figures entered her field of vision. Well she figured there were two of them. One of them seemed to be entirely clad in white which made that individual very hard to pick out in the white on white space they were all standing in. The other was all in black, a sharp contrast to the white her companion was wearing and the vast whiteness of the room around them.

Pixie wasn't sure which one of them had spoken but she was almost sure she knew who the two of them were. Unless the crew of the _Nebuchadnezzar_ had drastically changed in the handful of years she'd been living and learning in Zion, Pixie had a good idea who was heading towards her. It remained to be seen if they recognized her.

"You're the new recruit," the darkly clad individual spoke, sizing up Pixie with her eyes.

It was an uncomfortable feeling for the younger female- made her feel like something being studied under a microscope- and Pixie dropped her eyes to study the flat black and, very new looking, fronts of her boots.

The study took but a few very long moments, ending with the dark clad individual asking, "Do I know you? You seem familiar somehow."

Pixie gave both individuals a very sheepish smile, bringing her eyes up as she did. As she looked up- not to meet anyone's eyes but to speak to them while staring at a point somewhere above their heads- her eyes passed over what she was wearing. She was clad in something that could only be described as a high collard, black bodysuit over which she had on a pair of matte black dancer's pants and a small black jacket. It was all very odd considering that she'd never been a dancer in the Matrix. She'd been too sick for that sort of physical exertion.

Reaching behind her, Pixie found her hair was in a tight bun on the back of her head. She pulled her hair loose, leaving it a long braid instead of being pulled back and off of the back of her neck.

"My name is Pixie, ma'am," she said in a very small voice, "I remember the two of you from the last time I was on here. Trinity and Switch, right?"

"Pixie? As in Hawk's friend Pixie? The sick kid?" Switch asked, coming very close to Pixie and giving her a good once over.

"One and the same, though I haven't talked to Hawk in a while now and I haven't been sick in a very long time either," Pixie answered, taking an unconscious step back and bumping into what appeared to be monkey bars.

She cast her eyes around, wondering for a moment where the whiteness of the Construct had gone. Then she recalled Tank saying that everything was set up and that they were waiting for her. She guessed, as not to shock her and the two other new recruits, the program was being built around them piece by piece. At least she assumed that could be done. Pixie was no programmer. Rather she was a medic who also had some operator training along with the atypical pod born Matrix rebel training.

Either way, it appeared this modified game of capture the flag was going to take place in an inner city park. It was a large space, full of the atypical park or playground equipment. There were two large slides one of the far sides and a swing set on the other. Near the center was a set of monkey bars and other smaller items dotted the landscape. Most of the equipment was worn with time and spray painted with scrawled names and crude figures.

"It's nice to see you again, Pixie," Trinity said, trying to sound friendly but still trying to emphasize the fact she held a higher rank, "I hope you're ready for this."

"I think I'm ready for this….but I'm not sure," Pixie admitted with a sheepish smile, "I guess this is the real test, huh?"

"You could say that," Trinity informed the newest member of their crew, "This is just a small game that Morpheus has set up for you three."

Thinking quickly and wanting to know what was going on, Pixie inquired, "Morpheus said that this game was a variation of capture the flag. What kind of game is this really?"

"Easy," Switch answered, speaking as Trinity pulled out a small cellular phone and began dialing a number, "we have three flags and they have four flags. We have to capture their flags before they capture ours."

"Why do they have one more flag than us?" Pixie wanted to know.

That didn't really seem fair, no matter how the rules were set up. Even if the opposing team had one more member, it was still unfair. That put the team she was on at an even greater disadvantage. A disadvantage she perceived as even greater because she was naught but an untried, untested, fresh out of school rookie.

"Because Cypher has two rookies on his side instead of just one," Trinity answered, stowing her phone in an almost invisible pocket in her black clothing.

Before Pixie could ask about the flags, she found herself being handed a piece of bright red cloth. Where the long scrap of fabric had come from, Pixie would never know. Its appearance was almost a magician's trick to her. Not there one moment and there the next or something to that effect. Following the lead of the other two females, Pixie tied the scrap fabric around her right wrist.

"Good eye. We're supposed to have our flag somewhere easily visible to members of the opposing team," Trinity observed, watching as Pixie knotted her flag.

"Where is the opposing team anyway? Tank said he jacked them in just after you and I came in here," Switch asked, her own flag a wine stain against the white she was wearing.

"I just called and Tank said that they were getting strange readings on the monitor of one of Cypher's teammates. They pulled him out and were in the process of jacking him back in when I called," Trinity answered.

"Talking about us, Trin?" an oily voice echoed across the empty playground.

Standing on the opposite side of the park, bright blue flags on their right wrists, was Cypher and two individuals Pixie didn't easily recognize. Apparently, the two that stood with Cypher- each with one flag while Cypher had the extra one- were the other rookie members of the crew she'd been assigned to. All she could tell was that the other rookies were male.

Seeing that made Pixie want to laugh, almost. The teams were split along the traditional "boys versus girls" lines. Lines that didn't really exist in Zion because both males and females vied for the same positions on ships and worked together to keep the city running. Seeing it now made things just a bit confusing for her. Confusing in an amusing way and not a in a baffling way, though.

"Just wondering where you and your team ran off to, Cypher," Switch answered, speaking for some odd reason instead of Trinity, "We thought you were afraid of us."

"Afraid of you! Don't make me laugh," stated one of the male rookies- a deep voiced fellow that Pixie didn't think she knew- "you're just a bunch of girls."

It was that comment that sparked the start of the little "game" they were all supposed to be taking part in.

Seeing the three figures rushing across the playground and knowing that she had little actual fighting experience- little meaning none since her focus had really been on medical training- Pixie froze for a moment. Her mind was screaming at her to do something and not just stand there like a target. It was just that her body wasn't really keen on listening to her at the moment so she stood with her hands in fists at her sides, gaping like a fish out of water.

"Standing there is going to get you killed, Pixie," someone called- Pixie wasn't able to register who- trying to motivate her into moving.

"Maybe she's turned chicken on us. This is no place for chickens," stated another, the deep voiced boy who'd spoken before.

"I'm not chicken," she mumbled, getting control over her body again.

Not a moment too soon, Pixie figured, in her best estimation. One of the boys- the bigger of the two who had a deep hood covering his head- was nearly on top of her. He seemed rather intent to knock her over and take the flag she had knotted around her wrist.

That was something Pixie wasn't going to allow to happen. Earlier she'd been determined to make a good first impression on her new captain and fellow crewmates. Even though she'd been with this crew before, in an odd way, Pixie still wanted to make a good impression on them. Show them she wasn't the same little pod born that they'd freed a handful of years earlier.

Standing like a statue wasn't, obviously, the way to accomplish that.

Recalling what was behind her; Pixie turned and started scaling the monkey bars. She was heading for the top of the tall structure even though she knew that, if the larger person was going to follow her up, she was going to be trapped up there. Pixie was almost sure that she wasn't going to be able to get away fast enough as she tried to keep her balance on the structure. Falling from that height, since even the protective pads on the ground didn't really look all that soft, wasn't something Pixie wanted to do either.

The boy who'd been heading for her didn't seem to want to start scaling the structure right away. Pixie guessed he didn't like climbing or he figured she was just going to come crashing down and he could come over and take advantage of her when she was prone on the ground. Like an animal in his cage, the hooded boy started pacing around the metallic structure.

Staying in one place was just making Pixie nervous so she started to climb along with him. As he walked on the ground, she scooted along the structure. Probably not the brightest thing to do since she could lose her grip or footing easily but Pixie felt too nervous to stay still. So she carefully climbed and tried to ignore the people around her and their ventures in flag snagging.

"Come on down kitten," the boy said, his tone like poisoned honey and oil, "I promise I won't play rough with you."

Pixie groaned, a frown creasing her face, and retorted, "Saying things like that won't get me out of here. If you want my flag, you're going to have to come up here and get it from me."

She immediately regretting saying that but knew she couldn't take it back. Knew she couldn't because this person would make fun of her and because he was climbing up after her. She couldn't see the boy's face but she knew he wasn't pleased to have to climb up after her.

He was making a beeline towards her but, much to Pixie's delight, the boy was moving slowly. Apparently, he wasn't fond of climbing or something like that. It was either that or he didn't like the fact she kept moving around the structure.

"Stay still," he snapped, grabbing her booted foot.

Pixie let out a small yelp of surprise- she hadn't expected him to snag her foot- and tried to shake the boy loose. The more she shook, though, the tighter his grip became. The shaking did accomplish on thing, though. She managed to knock the boy off balance. He started slipping off the structure, heading back towards the ground.

The more he slipped, the stronger his grip became and, soon, Pixie was plummeting down after him. The boy hit the ground first, landing on his back with an audible rush of air as the wind was knocked out of him. Pixie landed next to him, hitting the ground and biting back another yelp as her knees took a large part of the painful shock.

She didn't have very long to think about that, though, as the boy made to grab her hand. Well, the flag she had tied there anyway. That brought Pixie back to the moment and to what she had been trying to accomplish.

Her eyes located his blue flag and she went to grab it from his wrist. Her hands, smaller than his and a bit defter due to her medical training, snatched the flag first. Pixie held up the item in a victorious gesture but the movement was short lived.

During the fall, the boy's hood had fallen off of his head. Pixie looked at the boy and the flag she'd been holding fell into her lap.

"Hawk?" she asked, sounding a little more than stunned.


	39. Make New Friends but Keep the Old

AN: That's it! I'm officially done with school for the year! I just finished up my lab class so now I, officially, have no other classes to take until fall rolls around. Now I can go back to doing what I usually do over the summer. That being, reading everything in my path, writing, and doing the stuff I don't have time to do during the school year. That and watch an inhuman number of movies and go to baseball games. Ah summer! Anywho, I hope everyone is having a good summer doing whatever it is you do over the summer! Whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying yourself! Thanks for the reviews of my little misadventure involving a girl named after a mythical sprite, a guy named after a bird, and someone with a name that sounds like a car part. All of you are the best and please keep them coming! I always welcome advice and opinions on this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Make new friends,  
but keep the old.  
One is silver,  
the other is gold." (Traditional Girl Scout Song)

Pixie blinked a handful of times, trying to dispel the image before her. It had to be her imagination playing cruel jokes on her. Some part of her mind flashing back to her first time on the _Nebuchadnezzar _when Hawk had been freed with her. Maybe it was an odd machine malfunction. The computers on the craft somehow making images of her past come to life.

Still, this was not the Hawk Pixie had known back then. Though Hawk was by no means a little boy when he violently separated himself from their little group of friends, he still had some growing up to do. There was still some part of him that had to attain its adult form. Maybe a part of his personality or his physical features or something to that effect. Just one of those strange things that marked the total transition from teen to adult.

Hawk's features were a bit more adult now. Slightly more refined and sharper than when Pixie had last seen him. His eyes, too, seemed sharper or colder or something like that. Actually, it was the look that said eyes were giving her that sent an uncomfortable feeling through Pixie.

He wasn't exactly glaring at Pixie as she was staring at him. There was no abject shock, surprise, or disbelief in his coal dark gaze as there was in her brandy brown eyes. His eyes seemed to wander down the length and breadth of her black clad body, seemingly trying to take in every detail of the person kneeling next to him. Pixie felt heat rush up into her cheeks, painting her face a very bright shade of red. She wasn't sure why his looking was making her uncomfortable- Aisling had once told her that there was nothing with being stared at once and a while- nor was she sure why he was doing it.

Unless…Hawk didn't realize it was her.

That idea was quickly removed as a possibility when Hawk, breathlessly, commented, "If it isn't Pixie Sticks…"

His words hung in the air- if there was such a thing as air in the virtual world that was the Construct- for a brief moment before the world went dark. Well, actually, it didn't properly go dark like it did when she was plugged into the Construct. It was more like being pulled out backwards from the world. It sort of puckered around her, colors mixing and blending in a gut wrenching swirling mass, almost like she was being sucked from the reality she'd been existing in. If one could use the word "reality" for something one knew was totally false.

Either way, Pixie was still in a mild state of shock when her brandy brown eyes opened in the ship's Core. With a hand from Dozer, Pixie scrambled out of the chair she'd been resting in. Her knees were a bit sore from the fall she'd taken- since the mind converted anything that happened in the Construct into real feelings- but she was otherwise alright. Not feeling ill or anything else.

"So it is you," Hawk commented, coming up behind Pixie and giving a small snort of laughter when she nearly jumped out of her skin, "Didn't think someone like you had it in you for a job like this."

Pixie took a deep breath and, slowly, let it out, trying to center herself and keep herself calm. She didn't want to show Hawk anything other than her normal expression. Part of her knew that showing him that he'd startled her and was making her feel unsure would just feed into him. That was the last thing Pixie wanted to do, given the fact they were going to be living and working in close quarters.

"Well, everyone needs a good medic, I guess," Pixie answered, "What brings you on here? I didn't know you wanted to work on a ship."

Hawk gave an absent minded shrug, leaning against a wall in a very relaxed pose. He studied Pixie again, looking at her outside the Construct. It was strange that the black clad female who'd been kneeling next to him was standing in front of him. It was almost like there were two different people….one was the Pixie before him and one was the Pixie in the Construct.

"I'm just here to do general rebel stuff. You know, fight agents…free minds…be the all around hero," Hawk answered, "I take it you won't be going in since you're all about fixing people up. I'm more about taking people apart since I've always been strong. Contrary to what Wheeler always said about me."

Thinking a moment, Hawk added, "How is old Wheels anyway? What's he been up to these days? Other than starting fights, of course."

"Wheeler's alright. He was commissioned to work on this ship called the _Shatterpoint_," Pixie answered.

The rest of his question, though, caused a baffled expression to cross Pixie's face. The only time she could recall Wheeler fighting was just the day before- though it seemed like a lifetime ago- when Wheeler had a bit of a scuffle with the unknown guy at the Temple. The one with the strange tattoo of a bird of prey preparing to attack an innocent looking rabbit. She didn't recall seeing anyone who looked anything like Hawk standing there and, unless, word had spread that fast Pixie couldn't believe how Hawk knew about the fight.

"How do you know about that fight?" Pixie asked, "Wheeler doesn't fight anyway. It was just that once and he only did it to help me out of a tight spot."

Hawk didn't answer right away. Instead, he pulled up the loose hanging right sleeve of the battered black sweater he was wearing. Pulled it up high enough so she could see the entire arm up the shoulder.

"That's how I know," Wheeler answered, showing a stunned Pixie something on his arm.

That something he was showing her, the something that had stunned her into silence was the tattoo he had on his upper right shoulder. It was the bird with the wide and wild eyes. The bird screeching its death knell for the wide eyed rabbit that huddled in a furry looking ball on the ground before it.

It was the image from the night before. The one on the arm of the person who had tried to get his arm around her at the Gathering. The one Wheeler had stopped because he hadn't liked the other male's actions. Truthfully, she didn't either and Pixie was only too glad to have Wheeler's help.

"You were….." she started, stammering a bit as the shock returned with a vengeance.

What were the odds that the person from the Gathering and the person she was working with were one and the same? It had to be some impossibly long odds of that happening. It was just unreal in an odd sort of way.

"I was the guy from the Gathering yeah," Hawk filled in for her, "What was in your head, sicing Wheeler on me like that? I thought we were friends."

Pixie looked at Hawk like he had three or four heads sprouting out of his neck. He believed they were friends after what he'd said about her. She wouldn't go as far as saying they were mortal enemies but she wasn't ready to say they were friends either. The people she was closest to and hadn't been betrayed by- Aisling, Adoh, Ngaio, and, of course, Wheeler- Pixie was still hesitant to call friends.

Well, for all of them except Wheeler…maybe. He might have earned that friend title.

Still, she was shocked that Hawk had used that word in relation to her. After everything he'd said to her and the silence between them…well…that didn't really constitute friendship or anything even remotely like it.

"Wheeler did that on his own," Pixie explained, trying to keep her voice even and not nervous, "I didn't tell him to do anything. He just didn't like what was going on, that's all. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm by it. It was just a case of wrong impressions, that's all."

Pixie was trying her best to be rational with Hawk. To explain to him what had happened and nothing more. She was purposefully leaving out the fact she was glad Wheeler had helped her out since that was her own feelings. One of her instructors at the Zion Academy had said that medics had to leave their own emotions out of things because they got in the way. One couldn't think critically if their judgment was clouded by emotions and their own feelings. Pixie figured that was a good thing when it came to being a medic and that it could be helpful in other things. Things like explaining situations to people when caught off guard.

Thinking a bit more, Pixie added, "Besides, maybe he wouldn't have done that if you would have said who you were. I mean, you did just try to put your arm around me. If I would have known it was you, maybe I wouldn't have been so nervous or something."

It wasn't an outright lie but it wasn't the whole truth either. Pixie knew she still would have side stepped the arm and not danced with Hawk, even if he announced himself to her. If anything, she would have had the same sort of nervous conversation she was having with him now. Though she was wary of Hawk, she didn't want to hurt his feelings. That would have been mean and wrong of her.

Besides, she couldn't speak for Wheeler since she didn't know how his mind worked. She'd never known him to be an outwardly aggressive person who started fights at the drop of a hat. Actually, Pixie had never known Wheeler to even start fights. He'd always seemed like one of those calm and unflappable people. He never let anything bother him or, if something did, he never showed it.

Last night was the first time Pixie had seen Wheeler get angry and fight someone. Pixie had seen Wheeler angry before but never angry enough to fight. She guessed there was a first time for everything though.

She wanted to say something about his accosting her at the Gathering when someone snagged her from behind. Pixie gave a little squeak of surprise and nearly jumped out of her skin in the process.

Turning her head, Pixie let out a small gasp. Standing behind her, arms around her ribs, was a red eared boy with a wide smile on his face. It was a smile like Wheeler's but not really. Like Wheeler, it was a genuine smile. The kind of smile that didn't stop just on the face. It reached the eyes and made the entire person seem glad.

It just lacked a certain something Pixie couldn't name, no matter how hard she tried. It was just a small something but it was the something that made all the difference in the Real World.

"Mouse?" she asked, pulling a name from her memory.

The person standing behind her certainly looked like Mouse but Pixie wasn't entirely sure. She could have been really wrong and just made a fool out of herself in front of the person she assumed was the final rookie on the ship. Still, there was something about the person that was screaming "Mouse."

"The one and only," he laughed, "I'm not surprised to see you on here, Pix. You were always really smart. They'd be out of their minds if they didn't get you on a ship."

Pixie smiled; glad to see a friendly face her age on the ship, not noticing the glare Hawk was giving the two of them. He didn't like the fact Mouse had come in and taken over Pixie's attention. For the moment, the nearly black eyed male stood with his back against the wall, watching the two talk.

There'd be plenty of time for him to talk to Pixie later. They were, after all, on the same ship. She'd have no choice but to talk to him. This time there'd be no Wheeler to interrupt the conversation he wanted to have with her.

A cold smile crossed Hawk's face. Maybe this job would have more benefits than he initially thought.


	40. Kung Fu Fighting

AN: Heya everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying the summer and doing lots of very fun and exciting things. I just _saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_ and _The Devil Wears Prada_. The latest installment in the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ Trilogy (as is seems at the moment) is as much fun as the first movie. The entire theater, including my mother who doesn't laugh in the movie theater, was laughing at some points in the movie. It was just that funny! The other movie, _The Devil Wears Prada_, is alright but not as good as I thought it could have been. My sister and grandmother enjoyed it for some reason. Anywho…I hope all of you are enjoying the roller coaster ride that is Pixie's little story. I promise nothing too bad will happen to her in the end but nothing's going to come easy either. Just keep letting me know how I'm going with your always wonderful reviews! I'm open to any and all kinds of constructive criticism. Actually, I'm just open to any opinion….good, bad, or indifferent.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"We took a bow and made a stand,

started swinging with the hand  
The sudden motion made me skip

now we're into a brand knew trip

Everybody was kung-fu fighting  
Those cats were fast as lightning  
In fact it was a little bit frightening  
But they did it with expert timing…" (from "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas)

Pixie quickly learned that trying to measure time- without looking at what approximated a clock in the Real World- on the _Nebuchadnezzar _wasn't as easy as the same task was in Zion. At least in Zion, one could measure the changing of time with the dimming of the lights. The young female guessed it was supposed to simulate the movement of the sun in the Matrix. That constant motion of sun as it appeared to move across the sky, eventually sinking below the horizon in order to mark the start of the night and the following of the moon and stars until the sun returned to its lofty place in the heavens and the day started again.

Alright, so it wasn't real since it was all just an image placed into her head by the machines but it was the only frame of reference Pixie had for the way the lights in Zion seemed to dim as the day dwindled down into just tiny pinpricks of light along the metal catwalk streets. Actually, once the lights did dim to just pinpricks, if one looked up, it almost did look like stars in the sky.

On her new floating home, as Pixie started to think of the _Nebuchadnezzar_, it wasn't all that simple. Most of what she suspected was the day; the ship ran with lights on. That continued until what she figured was a very late hour when the ship would go almost entirely dark. Only the bare minimums of lights were kept on as the ship settled someplace for the night and everyone had their turn as a night watch.

Having a night watch was another one of the ugly necessities that living in the Real World and working on a ship called for. There always had to be someone watching the Matrix, looking for people who were looking for the truth. To Pixie, that was one of the stranger things about her new job. It just seemed odd to be looking for people who were looking for people like her. People who had been like her up until her freeing at the age of fifteen.

The other reason wasn't as strange. Someone had to be awake in order to make sure the infamous squid like machines that roamed the tunnels of the Real World- affectionately or sarcastically, Pixie was never sure which, referred to as the "Squiddies-" seeking to ambush and destroy anyone who dared to go against the Machine World. That, obviously, included anyone like Pixie and the others she worked under.

At the moment, though, all of her mental musings were cut off. For what seemed to be the hundredth day, Pixie found herself being taken to the Core with her fellow rookies. For the past few days, Pixie and her fellow rookies spent their time laying immobile in the Core as information was uploaded into their heads. For Pixie, much of it was medical related- Things she hadn't learned at the Academy- but there were a few other things that she wasn't exactly sure why she needed but she didn't ask anyway.

"Please tell me we're not going to spend another day in those chairs, Tank," Hawk whined as he followed the Operator to the Core, "my rear end is always stiff when I get up and I get headaches from all that information you people are jamming into my head."

Trying to add weight to his argument, Hawk added, "Come on, guys, back me up here. Don't you two get headaches and are all stiff after all that stuff they've been doing to us."

Mouse just yawned, covering his mouth with one hand. He was still waking up for all intents and purposes. That was something Pixie had learned almost immediately about Mouse. He wasn't really a "morning" person. It took him a good long while to wake up and get himself going for the day.

Pixie, for her part, just gave a shrug. Much to the annoyance of most of her friends in Zion, Pixie was very awake in the morning. Even on a handful of hours of sleep, Pixie seemed to have the ability to be wide awake and, what's more, totally functional. Aisling had always accused her of being just a bit too chipper in the mornings. Chipper in this case meaning annoying.

"It doesn't bother me. I happen to like it," Pixie answered with another shrug.

"You shouldn't count in the first place," Hawk commented, making a very dismissive gesture in Pixie's general direction, "you were always the one who liked school."

The dark haired medic wasn't really sure what to make of Hawk at any given moment. There were times when he was nice to her but there were also times when he wasn't. Times when he either totally ignored her or when he said things that were very….polite to her.

"What are we doing anyway? Why'd you wake us up so early, again?" Mouse asked, speaking around a few small yawns.

Pixie guessed he'd mustered up enough of his wits to speak. Maybe the sandy sleepiness that was in his mind had cleared away enough for him to start thinking about what was going on.

It wasn't like Pixie hadn't wanted to know what was going on either. Why she'd been dragged out of her bed and taken down to the Core. She had assumed it was for more uploaded training.

The Operator just winked and pointed the trio to three chairs in the Core. Working automatically, the three rookies found themselves being jacked into the ship.

This time, much to Pixie's surprise, she found herself awake and in a very…strange…place.

Uploading information usually happened in this strange state that was something like sleep but not quiet. Pixie figured her eyes were closed since it was dark but when they reopened, it wasn't refreshing like sleep. Pixie wasn't exactly tired but she didn't exactly feel ready and raring to face the day either.

It wasn't darkness Pixie was greeted with this time, though. Looking around, she realized she wasn't alone either. No, she was standing in the middle of a very simple, Asian inspired room. The floor, made of what appeared to be some kind of pale wood, was warm from the sun that filtered through paper windows high above the trio. The room's ceiling was quite high with columns holding up the ceiling and creating an area in the room that was shadowed.

There was a sliding set of doors- wood and paper- on one side of the room but those doors were closed at the moment. On the other side was a raised area that had a selection of what appeared to be samurai swords and other blades that represented the room's overall Asian theme.

"What are we doing here?" Mouse asked, walking around the room.

"I don't know what we're doing here but you two look like you escaped the mental institution in those white pajamas of yours," Hawk stated, nearly doubled over with laughter.

Pixie looked down and, though she was loath to admit it, she could almost agree with Hawk. She did look like she'd earned herself a day pass out of the mental institution as she was clad in white pants- loose fitting through the legs but obviously cinched as the waist- and a white, long sleeved jacket of some kind. The jacket was closed but had no buttons or other closures. Rather, it was held shut by a white belt that was tied in a complex looking knot at her waist. Under the jacket- Looking at the two boys, she was the only one with such an addition; she had on a tight fitting white tank top. Like the boys, though, her feet were bare.

"You don't think we're going to have to fight each other do you?" Pixie asked, sounding a bit concerned.

Though she'd been told she'd been given combat training during one of her marathon uploading sessions, Pixie wasn't quiet confident with said skills. She'd never, actually, seen a fight, much less been in one. That said, she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to test her skills against Hawk and Mouse. Well, more Hawk than Mouse, actually. There was part of her that was a bit worried that Hawk might try to do something less than nice to her while sparring.

Any answer that might have been given, any question that was going to be asked, died in the minds and throats of the three rookies. Dressed in a black karate outfit with white accents, was Morpheus. He stood in the doorway of the room, looking at Hawk, Mouse, and Pixie with an unreadable expression on his face.

He closed the door behind him and walked towards the three rookies. No one in the trio of rookies spoke or looked at each other. Three sets of eyes were fixed on the large, dark skinned captain.

Morpheus paused before the three rookies, and started, "I'm sure all of you are tired of training without being able to put your skills to the test. Over the next three days, there are three tests that I will be giving you. These are not pass or fail tests as I am sure you are use to taking. Rather, they are just an assessment of your skills and how well you are able to learn lessons."

"Then why bother giving these tests at all," Hawk wanted to know, glaring at Morpheus.

"I think he wants to see just how well we've assimilated what we learned," Pixie answered, thinking aloud.

'Well said," Morpheus stated, giving his new medic a small nod of approval.

"So you just want to see what we can do? That's it?" Mouse wanted to know.

"That would be it, Mouse," Morpheus answered, "Nothing to be too worried about. I will not be throwing you off of my crew if you fail to perform up to par. Everyone needs practice with things like this."

Taking a step or two back from the three young people, Morpheus added, "Now then, this is a sparring program. Within the virtual walls of this program, the rules of the Matrix apply. In her you are subject to gravity, inertia, centrifugal force, and any other motion related rule the Matrix has. There is a catch to these rules for you now and this catch is very, very important for you to understand. Understanding it can mean the difference between life and death when you are actually in the Matrix."

Pausing in order to give Hawk, Mouse, and Pixie a moment to process what he'd just told them, Morpheus continued, "These rules, because you are essentially free of almost all the restrains placed on you by the Matrix, can now be bent or broken."

"You took us in here to give that speech?" Hawk asked, sounding rather bored, "Why'd we have to get up early for that?"

Morpheus gave Hawk a hard glare and answered, "You attack me. Mouse, Pixie…try to stay out of our way."

Pixie didn't have to be told twice as soon as she understood what was going on. This wasn't a test of the combat training she'd been given. More like, this was a test of their understanding. Sure knowing how to fight was necessary in order to take part in this test but it wasn't the real object of said test.

Someplace in all of this, they were being tested on being able to use their skills to do something to the rules in the room. How they were supposed to do that was beyond Pixie at the moment. She figured that, by watching Morpheus with Hawk, she might be able to puzzle out just what she was supposed to do.

As she sat and played the silent observer, Pixie found her thoughts wandered past the given lesson on changing the rules of the Matrix. They settled themselves- curling up like a sleeping cat- around the fact Morpheus was setting before them three tests. Thinking back, and pulling her white covered knees closer to her chest, Pixie found herself trying recalling the film _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_.

Towards the end of the movie- one she'd seen several times during her stay in the Matrix- Pixie remembered the main character having to pass three tests in order to attain his goal. Of course, the goal of the film's main character was the Holy Grail. Pixie's goals weren't that lofty but the idea still sounded the same. Three tests in order to get to some goal. In her case, she figured the goal was getting to go into the Matrix with the rest of the crew.

Though she was trying to focus on the fight taking place before her- Morpheus and Mouse now as Hawk had been summarily defeated and was now sitting in a sweaty, panting heap at her side- Pixie found her mind going back to that movie again and again. It was almost as if the tests given in the movie were important to the tasks she was about to undertake.

"What were they?" Pixie, mentally, mused, rifling through the immense amount of stuff that littered her mind, "I know there were three of them and I know they had to do with getting through the tasks safely."

She had no idea why this thought- of all the thoughts that were dancing through her head at the moment- was important to her and the situation she'd found herself in. No matter how Pixie tried to make the idea fit into her situation, it was akin to trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. No matter how hard she shoved and banged, there was just no way the peg was going to fit. At least, that was how it seemed to the logical part of her mind.

The other part of her mind, one that dealt with something a bit more intuitive, was screaming at her to pay attention to it. Yelling for her to figure out the puzzle it was setting before her. What it was saying was important but, at the moment, it was important but only in a vague sort of way. It was up to Pixie to figure out in what way the message was important to her and the situation before her.

It seemed like only a short amount of time had passed before Mouse flopped down next to Pixie. He, like Hawk, looked incredibly out of breath and was red in the face. His clothing was more than a little askew. It looked as if Mouse had gone ten rounds with either a very bad dream or something much, much worse.

"You're up, Pix," Mouse managed to get out, as he tried to get his breath back.

A frown crossed Pixie's face as she pushed herself up from the ground. Her nerves seemed to be firing double time, as she walked over to where Morpheus – who looked no worse for where- stood. His was a looming presence over her small stature and skinny build. Pixie couldn't help but feel a cold jet of fear through her body. Puzzle in her head or not, this was one obstacle she wasn't going to be able to overcome.

"Are you ready?" Morpheus asked, frowning slightly as he took in the state of his medic.

Hawk and Mouse both came at him- Hawk more than Mouse- trying to assert themselves over him in a small way. They seemed to be enamored with the skills he had seen fit to give them. Maybe they saw themselves as video game characters in some fighting game and he was the game's final boss. The character to defeat in order to declare themselves champion.

Not so, it seemed, for Pixie. She seemed, more or less, nervous about having to spar against him. It was very obvious that she'd never fought before in any capacity. Still, Morpheus knew this was for her benefit as well as the benefit of the entire crew. If Pixie was unable to bring herself to swing at him, if her fear of striking a blow or being struck was too great, then she would have to be left aboard the _Nebuchadnezzar _instead of going into the Matrix with the rest of the crew.

"As ready as I'll ever be, sir," Pixie, politely, responded.

Much to Morpheus' surprise, Pixie stepped into a fighting stance. It wasn't a very flashy or complex looking stance but it was still a stance. She was standing with the upper part of her body facing the side but her feet faced Morpheus, left leg a bit ahead of her right. Her left arm was higher than her right, blocking her face while her right blocked the rest of her upper body.

"Hit me, Pix, if you think you're able," Morpheus countered, taking a stance of his own.

It was his use of her nickname- The name Morpheus rarely called her- that let Pixie know he was challenging her. More than anything else he said, it was just the uncharacteristic name that let her know. It was almost as if he was mocking her but mocking her in a good way. Trying to fuel her into doing something that might have been strongly against her usual character.

The medic- who'd never been in a fight before- decided to try her luck, hoping that striking first might give her an advantage. With that thought in her head, Pixie twisted her body around, trying to catch Morpheus with a right roundhouse kick.

With that single move the battle was joined.

Pixie tried her best to stay on guard and not fall prey to the captain's seeming lightening fast fists and feet. She wasn't going to go down as easily as the boys did even though she knew she was going to go down eventually. There was just no feasible way she was going to win. Still, Pixie was going to try and stay on her feet, so to speak, for as long as she could.

As she tried to fight back, the thoughts from her watching the previous two spars ran through her head. Her mind was still trying to make a point about that _Indiana Jones_ movie. Such thoughts should have been the last ones in her mind, given the fact she was fighting to stay on her feet, but they were still there, niggling at the back of her head. Trying to get her to understand something without blatantly saying what that something was.

Like a bolt of lightening, the reason for her mind obsessing about the movie hit her.

The clue attached to the first test was something to the effect of "Only the penitent man shall pass." Within the context of the movie, Pixie had always assumed it involved seeking forgiveness for transgressions of some type. That was why one had to kneel in order to survive the first test in the movie. If one was proud, one found themselves losing their head in the film. One had to be humble, fall to one's knees in order to avoid a beheading caused by pride.

Without really thinking, her mind seemingly working without her conscious knowledge, Pixie fell to her knees. The action was so sudden, so swift that the brief shock of pain from her knees was forgotten as quickly as it happened. Still, the fall had a purpose.

Pixie ducked under a ver hard thrust kick delievered by Morpheus. A kick that would have sent her through one of the columns on the far wall and ended the fight without question.

Still, after rolling backwards and to her feet, Pixie found herself being taken down by her captain. Another kick, one she hadn't scouted, took her down to the floor with a sudden outrush of air.

"Good….but not great Pixie," Morpheus commented, reaching down a hand and hauling his medic back to her feet.

Pixie gave Morpheus a very tired but sheepish smile. She had really tried but, apperantly and even with the help her mind had given her, it wasn't enough. Setting her jaw, Pixie decided she was going to just have to get better. Practice made perfect after all.

Seeing her set her jaw, Morpheus informed the gathered rookies, "Pixie, have a seat. We are going to do this….again. Come on Hawk."


	41. Christmas Waltz

AN: Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back! I hope everyone's enjoying this little misadventure that involves a pixie with no wings, a hawk with no beak, and a mouse without big ears or whiskers. Really, this story was just written to pass some time and to get some ideas out of my head. I really do appreciate all the feedback and everything I've gotten on this story. It always surprises me when I get reviews since I never expect anyone to read what I write. For this story in particular, I'm shocked even more than usual. I never intended to post this story in the first place because I wasn't sure if I'd done well with the characters, especially the cannon ones, and I wasn't too sure about the story either. Thank you, though, for all the wonderful complements and reviews. They've made me very glad I posted this little misadventure, after all! You guys are the best! Thanks again!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Frosted window panes

Candles gleaming inside

Painted candy canes on the tree

Santa's on his way

He's filled his sleigh with things

Things for you and for me…" (from "The Christmas Waltz" by The Carpenters)

Another day, another program. Another test that was really a lesson in disguise. At least, that was how Pixie was considering the predicament she and her fellow rookies found themselves in.

Actually, she was starting to prefer this little test-as-lesson than the one prior to it. It had taken her three or four times- Pixie had lost count somewhere in the middle of things since she was more concerned with getting out of the sparring program with minimal physical damage- for her to even get through Morpheus' guard. Not that she landed a blow of any kind; it was just that she managed to get through his guard. Though the spar itself ended with her being knocked back, again, Morpheus had congratulated her on trying her best.

Trying was not good enough for Pixie who was now determined to actually break through and knock her captain back. She figured she was going to need a lot of practice or luck- or a combination of both- for something like that happen but, hey, a girl had to have goals. It never hurt to reach for the stars when one had the ability to reach for something.

It was a goal that was going to have to wait for another day, though, as Pixie was trying to survive her current test-as-lesson. Though it seemed very strange- given the fact situations like the one she was being presented with at the moment use to give her panic attacks or, at the very least cause her to get short of breath- Pixie was far more comfortable in this sort of situation than in the sparring program. This was something she had learned to tolerate since she'd lived in the city. At least, the Matrix told her she was living in the city.

It was one of those situations that one learned to tolerate, even though one may not have liked the situation to start off with. One of those things that was hard to avoid, at any rate, which was why you learned to tolerate it. It was just unavoidable at all costs.

The situation, having to walk against the flow of a very large crowd. It was something Pixie knew she and Hawk had to deal with everyday at the school the pair of them attended while in the Matrix. Well, when she was well enough to go to school in the first place. The point was still the same, though, no matter how she looked at it.

At the moment, though, it was not a crowded hallway she, Hawk, and Mouse were being lead through. No, what they were being lead through was something far worse. Something far more sinister than a crowded hallway, filled to bursting with rambunctious teenagers and teachers with very little control over their students. Something, in Pixie's mind, that was worse than any crowd she knew of.

They were being walked through a crowded shopping mall during the Christmas season. What's more, they were being taken against the flow of the crowd. As the crowd walked down the fairly wide corridor, they were walking up the same path. The corridor, on a normal shopping day, would have fairly wide and should have allowed them to walk relatively unimpeded. Not so at the moment since the corridor was jammed with people heading in the same direction, except for Morpheus and his three rookies.

To make matters that much worse- or that much uncomfortable, Pixie wasn't sure which- the three of them were dressed in clothing to match the season. That was, they were dressed in heavy clothing in order to protect them from the bone chilling cold that many associated with the Christmas season in a crowded city. The problem was, the bone chilling cold was outside and two young men and one young woman were inside. The clothing wasn't protecting them from anything. Rather it was just making them warmer and more uncomfortable.

Pixie was clad in heavy blue corduroy coveralls with thermal pants on under them. On her feet were black boots that felt as if they weighted ten pounds each. The top part of her person was covered by a vivid yellow down jacket. What was under the jacket was anyone's guess, since Pixie wasn't keen on checking. She figured it was, at least, a scarf, a sweater and a shirt to go under the coveralls.

Hawk and Mouse were dressed in a similar fashion and were wearing similar uncomfortable expressions. Pixie tried to give the pair- at least Mouse, anyway- a commiserating smile but she found herself getting knocked with another person's bags. She stumbled a few steps, tripping over her boots and almost knocking into another person, and frowned.

"Each of the individuals you see here, any of the individuals you are apt to see in the Matrix, represent people still trapped in the Matrix. These people are no different from any of you before you were freed. Now, however, these people are your enemies. They are dependent on the system- on the Matrix- in a way you three are not," Morpheus explained, speaking as they walked and paying no mind to the three rookies that were being abused by the crowd the were walking against.

Pixie found it very odd that the crowd was parting ways for Morpheus. Though he, like the three rookies, was walking against the flow of the crowd, he was the only one not being battered by elbows, hips, parcels, and the occasional baby carriage. He just strode through the crowd with it parting around him like they knew he was someone important, someone dangerous.

Though she was trying to pay heed to what he was saying, since it was obviously important, Pixie was trying to get this situation to fit into the theory she'd created during the first of the three tests. She wasn't sure how much of a help it would be- since all her little assumption about falling to her knees did in the first test was to prolong her spars by a scant few moments and give her bruised knees- but it had to be better than getting knocked around by people who were obviously not paying attention.

"What was the second test?" she mused, side stepping a person with an armful of bags but getting hit by a baby carriage for her trouble.

It wasn't so much the test _from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ she was concerned with. It was more like the clue used to help the person get through the test. Though the tests were different, the clues still seemed to help. At the moment, Pixie figured she could use all the help she could get. She was taking an accidental beating from the shoppers around her which was doing little to help the still healing bruises she seemed to be covered in.

Thinking a moment, trying desperately not to miss anything Morpheus was explaining, Pixie wracked her memory for one quote. One small turn of phrase that might help her in her current situation.

Meandering through a particularly thick group of people, getting bashed and banged and bounced about in every conceivable way possible, a small smile crossed Pixie's face. She was far from pleased with her current situation- No one liked being tossed about like a boat in a storm- but Pixie hoped to soon remedy that little problem. Her mind had found the solution she was looking for. At least, what she hoped was a solution. Anything was better, though, than being knocked around by a crowd that Pixie was almost sure couldn't see her to being with.

"Walk in the footsteps of the word," she mumbled, looking around for some sort of clue as to how to fit that into her current situation.

"What did you say, Pix?" Hawk asked, giving Pixie a sidelong glance.

Hawk was walking with his jacket wide open, black scarf hanging across his shoulders. Hanging out of one of the pockets of his black jacket, was a dark colored ski cap and padded black gloves. Each step Hawk took was punctuated by a glower or some other rude face or gesture made in Morpheus' direction. Pixie figured Hawk was just lucky that Morpheus wasn't paying any attention to them otherwise he would have been in huge amounts of trouble.

Not speaking, since she was afraid that she'd be accused of not paying attention when she really was trying too all things considered, Pixie shook her head. Besides, she wasn't keen on talking to Hawk at the moment, anyway. Hawk had been bragging about his prowess in the sparring program and how he was, probably, going to have to be the one to teach "poor Pixie" how to fight. Though she didn't outwardly show it- Pixie wasn't going to give Hawk the satisfaction of knowing he'd upset her- Pixie was bristling on the inside. She knew she was going to have to ask someone to help her learn to fight, even if she was loathe to do so, but it wasn't going to be Hawk.

Pixie was, really, hoping that she was just going to be thrown into countless sparring programs with the other members of the crew. That way, she didn't have to ask for help- Pixie never did like asking for help for some reason, even when she knew she needed it- in order to get better. It would be more of a practice thing. She'd work at it until she was able to do it as well as anyone else.

Shaking her head to clear it out, Pixie mumbled the line a few times, trying to get herself to focus on the task at hand. She knew how the line fit into the overall plot of the movie. It was up to her to figure out how to get it to fit into her current situation.

There was only one, real, logical explanation for what was being implied. The noise level in the mall was deafening with people shouting to be heard over the general din but there was only one source of words for the three rookies. Only one person speaking to the three of them over the general noise of conversation and piped in Christmas carols.

Carefully, trying not to trod on toes or get bumped by bodies, carriages, or packages, Pixie insinuated herself into Morpheus' shadow. She followed in the captain's footsteps because he was the only person not getting jostled by the crowd around her. In her mind, she decided that she was slight enough that she could pass through uninhibited too.

"These people are not ready to be taken out of the Matrix. They haven't seen or aren't willing to see that they are living in a false reality. They depend on this system for everything. Many would not survive being removed from the Matrix. That is how much they depend on it," Morpheus continued, pausing in his narrative and his steps.

He turned his head, regarding the three rookies he'd been testing. At least, he'd thought it was three. On his left stood Hawk, looking smugly annoyed unless that was how he always looked, and, on his right, stood Mouse who seemed to be more concerned with why they'd stopped walking than anything else.

For a moment, Morpheus wasn't sure what had happened to his third rookie. Pixie, the medic trainee, was no where to be seen. He was starting to think that she'd gotten lost somewhere in the vast and shifting crowd. It wasn't an uncommon thing to happen in a vast crowd. Sometimes people got lost in the crowd because they weren't paying attention to the ever shifting people around them as they tried to pay attention to him.

He went to ask the two boys if they'd seen Pixie when he caught a glimpse of bright yellow standing just behind him. Something hiding in his shadow. Turning fully, he saw that his medic was walking in his footsteps. Trying to avoid the crowd simply by standing behind him since the crowd wasn't bothering him. It was an interesting tactic to say the least. One he'd never seen used before.

He nodded and continued walking, speaking as he went along.

Though she was not being harassed as much as she had been by the shifting crowd, Pixie found something else that was a bit on the distracting side. Something not entirely out of place in a mall full of people buying Christmas gifts. Something she'd heard happened but she'd never had the occasion to see.

"I had it first," came one voice, sounding very much like a harried male who, obviously, was not full of the Christmas spirit, "you can go find yourself your own. I'm not giving you this one."

"My kid wants one," the other person argued, sounding as angry as the first, "I'm not letting you have it. You can just hand it over right here and walk away."

Pixie saw that she wasn't the only one having trouble paying attention now. Everyone in the crowd, including Hawk and Mouse, were craning their necks behind them, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Apparently, the spirit of good will and cheer were not present in the mall they were walking through. People were still being selfish, thinking only of themselves and the needs of those they knew. The needs of others were being forgotten in the wake of what one wanted for themselves.

"Look, buddy, you're not getting this so why don't you back off. There's another toy store in here. If you hurry, maybe you'll find one there. I doubt it, though, this is the toy every kid wants," the first person, the one holding the item in contention, blurted.

It seemed this teasing was not something the other person wanted to hear. With a mighty roar, he launched himself at the first individual, making an attempt to rip the toy from the man's hands. Even Pixie couldn't help herself. She had to turn and watch the combatants wage war against each other over a silly toy.

Much to her surprise, though, the fight that had started out in the corridor behind them was getting closer by the moment. The two men were brawling their way through the crowd, not caring if anyone got in their way. They were that intently focused on getting the prize at hand- a simple child's toy- that they didn't notice the bodies of those around them.

Though it didn't seem like he noticed the fighting at all, Morpheus, dryly, commented, "Are you three paying attention?"

Three heads snapped back towards Morpheus and away from the fight. The motion was accompanied by three versions of the phrase "I'm listening," said with various amounts of annoyance.

"Perhaps, you three would like to take another look at the fight?" Morpheus, kindly, offered.

Not missing their opportunity, Hawk and Mouse quickly turned. Pixie was slower in her response, thinking there had to be something else to Morpheus' offer. It seemed like he was going chide them for not listening and now he was allowing them to watch. There had to be a catch, Pixie was convinced of it. Morpheus didn't seem the type to allow for something as silly as watching a fight while he was trying to teach them something important.

Still, Pixie wasn't going to ask any questions nor was she going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She turned to look at the two brawling individuals only to find that they were no longer angry holiday shoppers.

Squeaking in shock, Pixie jumped as one of the formerly angry Christmas shoppers transformed into a black suited man with shade covered eyes. The squeak transformed into something like a full on scream when the black suited man leveled a gun at the three rookies. Someplace in the back of Pixie's head, she was pleased that she hadn't yelled alone. Hawk and Mouse had produced their own versions of the terrified sound.

Pixie was convinced that she was going to die. That this black suited man- something she knew she should have recalled from her Academy days but her mind was drawing a blank- was going to fire and that was going to be it for her. Not that she was afraid of death, Pixie it was part of the job when she signed up to work on a ship. It was more like she'd hoped her career, as it was, would have been a bit longer.

Still Pixie couldn't help herself. She ducked at the very sight of the weapon, yellow jacket covered arms coming up to protect her head.

The shot never came though as everything froze around her. The people stopped midstep or midstentence. The space was suddenly utterly still and silent.

"What's going on here?" Hawk demanded, getting to his feet and staring the dark skinned captain in the eyes, "You scared m….I mean, you scared poor Pixie do death."

Pixie gave Hawk a curious look and went back to trying to get her heart back under control. It was beating faster than she decided was normal, as if it was trying to break free from her ribs and fall to the floor before her, from the shock and surprise.

"You okay, Mouse?" Pixie asked, staring at the ashen faced young man that was next to her.

He looked paler than she'd ever seen him before and that was saying a lot. He was one of the paler people Pixie knew in the Real World.

"Just got taken by surprise," he laughed, "not a big deal. You alright?"

"Same here," Pixie answered, starting to laugh, herself.

It wasn't that she was laughing because she was amused by their current situation. Far from it, actually. Pixie was laughing because she was scared and nervous. The best response she could muster was abject laughter. It might have earned her a few looks from her captain and her fellow rookies but it was the best she could do given the circumstances.

Returning Hawk's glare- and sparing a curious glance over to Mouse and Pixie who were trying their best to hold down infection nervous laughter- Morpheus answered, "As was the case with the sparring program, this is another lesson. We are not in the Matrix, as you can see. This is a program that serves one use. That has one purpose."

"What would that be?" Hawk cut in, "Scaring people to death?"

"This program teaches a very important lesson. A lesson that is vital to your survival once you are taken into the Matrix. If you are not one of us, if you are not a freed mind, you hold the potential to become an Agent of the system," Morpheus answered.

"Doesn't look so scary to me now," Hawk commented, poking the free standing man and smirking as he rocked back and forth for a brief moment.

"If we can't become Agents of the system, then how do you become an Agent?" Pixie asked, starting to get over her giggling, "Does it have something to do with being unaware of the fact you're in the Matrix?"

She was starring to put the pieces of the preverbal puzzle together now. The whole walk through the mall, his entire lecture about the nature of people in the Matrix, had been leading to this moment.

"Anyone that is still part of the Matrix, anyone that is not one of us holds the potential for becoming one of them. Any man, woman, or child who has not taken the red pill can become an Agent," Morpheus answered.

"So we fight these guys, right?" Mouse asked, looking at the agent curiously.

It was true, what Hawk had said. Standing stock still, the Agent wasn't so terrifying. Truthfully, Morpheus was wider across the shoulders than the Agent and appeared to be a bit stronger too. He was only armed with a single side arm and nothing more. There were no telltale bulges in his jacket to indicate he was carrying some other weapon.

"Every one of us that has gone against the Agents of the system has lost their life. Do no be fooled by their appearance and do not think that you are able to destroy these individuals. They have abilities far beyond those of a normal individual. They can punch through walls made of solid concrete and move as fast- if not faster- than many of us so firing on them is a moot point," Morpheus answered.

That description chilled Pixie to her core and made her step back from the still life Agent. True, they weren't in the Matrix but the reaction was something she couldn't help. Not after what Morpheus had told them.

"What do we do then?" she asked, a note of fear in her voice.

"What happened, Pix," Hawk teased, "scared? Maybe you should have stayed in Zion like the good medic you are."

Pixie blushed, embarrassed by her response. Maybe she wasn't cut out for working in the Matrix, like Hawk implied. After all, she wasn't the best at hand to hand combat- Though she'd vowed to improve in that respect- and she'd been scared of the sight before her. Maybe it was best for her to stay behind in Zion, work there where it was safe and secure.

"You run from them. You hide from them. You never engage them in combat. There may come a time when someone may be able to defeat these Agents but that time is not now. You see an Agent, you try your best to escape. In this case, escape is not the cowardly thing to do," Morpheus answered.

"And if you can't get out on your own…." Mouse asked, speaking the words that were running through Pixie's head.

Pixie was almost sure Morpheus was going to inform them that anyone not fast enough or hampered by an injury of some kind was going to be left behind. One of those survival of the fittest ideas. The weak and the injured, those unable to keep up with the pack were left for dead along the trail.

It all made a strange sort of sense to the science minded Pixie. In a world where the strong stood a better chance of surviving, some sacrifices had to be made. Another shot of doubt, as cold as the fear in her stomach, wound its way through her, chilling her further. Maybe this was not the place for her, after all.

"I do not leave members of my crew behind," Morpheus stated, though the tone in his voice indicated it was more of a promise than anything else, "you do not have to worry about that."

Pixie wasn't sure if she should be relieved by that statement or more nervous. Maybe a combination of both. At least it had helped her sagging confidence a bit, alleviated her fears of getting left behind. Still, she feared that this was not her place.

Maybe she'd gotten in a bit over her head.


	42. Jump

AN: Hey everyone! The Big Apple, this past week, was turned into the Big Overheated Apple as a heat wave swept through the city. A lot of places lost power because of the heat but, thankfully, my neighborhood was spared a blackout. I was happy about that because the last time we had a blackout in New York City, my family was caught totally unprepared. We didn't have any batteries for flashlights so we wound up lighting a whole bunch of candles. After a while, it got annoying to even read by the candlelight since we couldn't watch TV or use the computer. The moral of the story….be prepared. On a side note, I'd like to send out a huge congrats to Floyd Landis for winning the 2006 Tour de France! Anywho, please keep on enjoying my little misadventure and do let me know what you think of it. I love hearing from all of you, good, bad or indifferent. Let me know how I'm doing with this story! Thanks, you guys rock like a box of socks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real  
Oh, can't you see me standing here,  
I've got my back against the record machine  
I ain't the worst that you've seen.  
Oh, can't you see what I mean?  
Might as well jump. Jump!  
Might as well jump.  
Go ahead, jump. Jump!  
Go ahead, jump." (From "Jump" by Van Halen)

"What are you going to have us do today, Captain?" Hawk asked, casually leaning against the gray brick wall behind him with his arms crossed over his chest, "Run down the building as it burns down around us?"

Hawk's mood, Pixie figured, was a direct result of the scare he'd experiences in the Agent Training Program the day before. They'd- being Mouse, Hawk, and Pixie- all gotten a bit of a shock from the program but it was only Hawk who seemed to take personal offense to it. Pixie assumed that the lesson they were to learn was an important one and, thus, the shock was necessary. How else were they to learn that these Agents in their dark suits and shades were something to fear unless they were introduced in a fearful manner. A good shock to the system to teach them not to let their guard down.

Still, Hawk seemed to have an issue with that training method. In Pixie's mind, she decided that was a direct result of the fact he'd been as scared as she and Mouse had been. For all his bluster and bravado, Hawk was just as nervous as the rest of them. Something, she figured, he didn't want anyone else seeing since it went against the image he was trying to project.

Pixie, for her part, was still trying to get the Agent Training Program- The name she picked up from one of the others on the crew of the _Nebuchadnezzar_. - out of her head. She knew she had to get over the scare she'd had in order to face the test that loomed before her.

The medic in training knew that only experience would help her get over the fright of the Agents as Morpheus explained them. She'd assumed that only facing one of them or, even, seeing them in action would help her. The problem was, Pixie was not keen on even seeing something that was faster, better, smarter than she could ever hope to be.

Even with the whole idea of her being able to bend or break some of the rules of the Matrix, which seemed to be the lesson learned from the sparring program, Pixie was sort of hoping that whatever luck had brought her to the _Nebuchadnezzar_ was going to hold out. That dumb luck that saw her with the same people that had freed her might keep her from ever going up against the Agents that protected the Matrix.

She knew it was probably unlikely to happen but Pixie figured she could always hope. That helped to keep the doubt that was gnawing at the corners of her mind at bay. Doubt, she knew, was very dangerous to someone who had to use logic in order to work. Not so much when she had to work within the Matrix, Pixie figured, because logic could get in the way of her doing as Morpheus instructed.

When she was out of the Matrix, though, working as a medic, Pixie knew logic was an essential tool. Logic in the absence of doubt especially. One of her medical instructors in Zion told her class that doubting one's medical decision could spell certain doom for not only the patient but the medic as well.

At the moment, though, Pixie was trying to focus her mind and all of her energy on the task at hand. Of course, she had no idea what the task was but she figured it was important. Maybe more important than the test that came before it by virtue of the fact it was the last of the three tests.

Like the final exam or something like that. Something that might test everything they'd learned thus far from Morpheus like the final exams she'd taken in the Matrix and at Zion's Academy.

The group- she, Mouse, and Hawk- had only just found themselves standing against the gray wall. The three rookies had come into the program, standing in a boxy dirty blue hallway. Directly in front of them was a flight of concrete steps, covered by some sort of nonstick rubber mat. The monotony of the dirty blue paint was only broken by the presence of a worn and dirty brown banister. The stairs seemed to lead to another landing but what was on that landing was beyond the three of them.

Seeing how it was their only option, the three rookies mounted the stairs only to find themselves facing a heavy looking metal door. The door was closed but the door knob- a shiny silver orb- glinted at them, teasing them to open the door using it. Since Morpheus was not in the stairwell, and didn't seem to be coming any time soon, they opened the door.

It was there Morpheus greet the trio of rookies, watching them as they realized where they were. The door they had opened had led the three rookies onto a very high rooftop. The sky above them was a bright blue with white, wispy clouds through it. All around them a city sprawled, buildings around them, standing like stone and glass sentinels.

The three rookies and their captain stood on, easily, the tallest building in the entire city. There was only one building that matched the one they stood on in height, and, oddly enough, it was the building that was right across from them. The two buildings seemed to be totally different in nature as they were standing on what looked like a residential building while the shiny glass building across from them appeared to be more like an office building.

"No Hawk," Morpheus answered, "There are other reasons for us to be on this roof today."

Pixie was glad that there would be no running down the building while it burned down around her. Her rather overactive imagination was leading her to believe that that they would be doing just that with an Agent- or a simulated Agent- chasing them.

Still, she wasn't sure what they were doing, standing on this high rooftop in the middle of some nondescript city. As far as Pixie could see, options were limited as to what they could do standing on the roof. Her imagination was already providing images of things that weren't exactly fun.

"As you can see, this is the final test I set before you," Morpheus, dressed in a black suit with a long black jacket over it, started.

He made an expansive gesture, encompassing not only the roof on which they stood but everything else in the virtual world around them. Pixie had already guessed at this being another one of the ship's training programs because cities were never this quiet in the Matrix. As high up as they were, Pixie figured she would still be able to hear the roar of traffic as it moved through the streets or airplanes flying overhead.

If she were brave enough, Pixie was curious to see if there were people on the streets of this virtual world. Maybe it wasn't a question of bravery, since heights never really bothered Pixie. It was more of a question of interest. She was more interested in what Morpheus had to say than the small details of the programmed world she'd found herself in.

"What are we going to do up here, Captain?" Mouse asked, sounding rather eager and curious.

The only small details Pixie did have time to notice were the clothing everyone was wearing and that was about it. She, herself, was back in her old Matrix clothing. That was, she was clad in denim coveralls and a long sleeved t-shirt. On her feet were comfortable looking green sneakers. The boys were dressed in much the same way, clothing that, she guessed, harkened back to their days in the Matrix.

Their mode of dress stood in stark contrast to the dark clothing Morpheus was dressed in. There had to be a reason for that but Pixie didn't have the time to figure out just what reason that was. Her mind was occupied with trying to figure out just what they were doing on the roof.

"In order to succeed in the Matrix, you must learn to free your mind," Morpheus continued, "every constraint you place on yourself, every fear you have, every doubt that gnaws at the dark recesses of your mind, and every disbelieving thought you might have can cause you harm when in the Matrix."

"What do you mean, sir?" Pixie questioned, sounding curious and trying to get to the heart of the matter.

Nearly at the same time, Hawk snapped, "Can you stop with the lecturing and get on with it? All you ever seem to do is drag the three of around and talk and I'm getting sick of it. Aren't you guys?"

If Morpheus was bothered by Hawk's outburst, he didn't say a word. All the dark skinned captain did was give Hawk an unreadable stare- unreadable because of the mirrored sunglasses he was wearing- and waited for Pixie and Mouse to answer Hawk's query.

Mouse shook his head while Pixie mumbled, "I don't mind it, actually."

As Hawk tried to control his anger- upset now because the other two rookies hadn't agreed with him- Morpheus explained, "If your mind is truly free, anything- anything at all- is possible. You just have to let go of everything that might hold your mind to the old rules you were use to."

A few beats passed as the three rookies considered Morpheus' words, trying to puzzle out a test from a philosophically sounding turn of phrase. In Pixie's mind- and going along with the theory she'd been working with- the next test was the most nerve wracking. It was the one she remembered totally from the movie_ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ because it had been the one that impressed her the most. The two tasks before the final one had just been warm ups for the harrowing final test. The one that ensured only the purest of all got to the grail.

"Allow me to show you what can be done if your mind is free," Morpheus cut in, catching the attention of his three rookies.

"No way!" Mouse blurted out, "he's not going to…."

"I think he is," Hawk cut in, his mind following Mouse's.

Pixie was too stunned to say anything. Her brandy brown eyes went wide as saucers and her mind raced a mile a minute to try and make sense of what she knew was about to happen.

Morpheus- who looked for all the world like a very sane and intelligent man- was barreling towards the edge of the rooftop at a very hard run. Once he reached the edge, he took a mighty leap off the roof and into the air. Pixie held her breath, expecting to see the captain fall. Instead, defying every scientific law she could possibly think of, he sailed across the chasm between the two buildings and landed on the opposite roof.

"Wow," she breathed, clearly amazed at what had happened.

"That was so cool," Mouse concurred.

In a more serious tone, the boy asked, "You don't think he expects us to do that, do you?"

"I think," Pixie answered, in a nervous sounding voice, "he does."

With a sigh, she realized this final test was exactly like the final test in_ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_. It was nothing more or less than a leap of faith. In order to attain the desired goal- in the movie it was the grail, in Pixie's case, it was being a full member of the _Nebuchadnezzar_'s crew- one had to have faith in themselves and take a leap that seemed more than a little impossible.

"So," Mouse broached, around a nervous chuckle, "who wants to go first?"

Pixie shook her head; braid wagging from side to side as she did so. She knew she had to, eventually, take her leap but she wanted a few moments more to set her thoughts in order. To find just how closely this situation mirrored the one that was in her head.

"Fine," Hawk said, around an aggravated sigh, "I'll go first. You two are such giant chickens. Watch, I bet I make this jump too. If that big mouth can do it, I can too. It looks easy."

Putting his back to the wall, and glaring at Morpheus standing on the other roof, Hawk gave a loud yell. He ran hard, almost sprinting across the roof until he reached the edge. Once at the edge, he gave another shout and jumped into the chasm between the buildings. Nothing like his avian namesake, Hawk flailed his long limbs in the air and started to tumble down into the void.

Both Pixie and Mouse ran towards the edge, peering into the space between the buildings. Pixie almost expected to see something like a human shaped splat mark on the asphalt below them. Much to her surprise lay on the pavement, rocking back and forth. If he wasn't dead, he was seriously injured.

The pair, both rattled, walked back towards the door. As she walked back, Pixie's mind gave up the line used in the film. The one clue she had to accomplish this task. According to the film, "Only a leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth." Looking around, Pixie was almost disappointed to find there were no lion's heads on either roof. There wasn't even a gargoyle that she could say looked like a lion.

Where as the other two little hints, so to speak, gave only vague clues to the task at hand, this one was pretty direct. There were no two ways about it. She was going to have to make the jump, no matter how aware of the fact it was extremely unsafe.

It seemed totally unsafe to take such a jump. It was an impossible task yet something in Pixie's head was telling her she could do it. She had to do it to prove she was as good as everyone else. Morpheus had said that far, disbelief and doubt could cloud the mind and prevent it from doing the impossible. Doing things like taking a leap of faith between two very tall buildings.

Still, neither she nor Mouse made any move to take their leap.

"Rocks, paper, scissors for the next one to go," she offered, thinking of the only way to setting this matter fairly.

Going back to an old game both had learned someplace during the respective stays in the Matrix, the two rookies decided to let a game decide who would take the next jump. After pounding fists in hands three times, the two presented their chosen shape. Mouse showed a closed fist- the symbol for rock- while Pixie had chosen the symbol for paper, an open hand with the palm down.

"Paper beats rock," Pixie commented, actually feeling badly for beating the young man, "Sorry, Mouse."

Mouse gave her a sheepish sort of grin and very cheesy thumbs up, placing his back against the gray wall. Pixie could see that he was far more nervous than Hawk had been when Hawk attempted to make the jump across the buildings. He was fidgeting as he took a deep breath and let it out. Though Pixie wasn't sure what he was saying, she was convinced that Mouse was mumbling something to himself. Repeating some sort of mantra to get himself psyched up or something.

Like Hawk before him, Mouse ran to the edge of the rooftop, jumping when he felt himself running out of room. Pixie watched as he flew across the chasm like Superman- arms out in front of him, body parallel to the ground- for what seemed like an eternity before he, too fell. In truth, it had been an all too brief time before he fell into the space between the two buildings.

Pixie stood alone on the roof, feeling very alone. She couldn't bring her legs to move nor could she force herself to even consider taking the jump. Her mind was screaming at her just to stay where she was. Ignore the test she was being given and step away from the lion's head, so to speak. Forget proving her worth, she should want to save her own life first.

She fretted over what she had to do, torn between knowing it seemed crazy to take the leap but, by the same token, knowing she had to. The leap of faith was a necessary task in order to show that she was able to let go of everything and trust herself and her captain.

The medic took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. It wasn't going to anyone any good, her standing there on the rooftop. She had to take the jump, just as Hawk and Mouse had done before her. There were no two ways about it.

Morpheus had said that, in order to make the jump, one had to let go of all fears, doubts, and disbeliefs. Decide that the laws that governed the Matrix didn't apply to them and have faith in that decision. Use that faith to make the leap and see what happened.

"Only a leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth," she mumbled to herself, repeating the line from _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_, "do the unbelievable."

Pixie, despite being a medic who was supposed to deal in facts, knew that the unbelievable was possible. It had to be, really, since learning that the reality one had grown up in wasn't real was sort of unbelievable. The impossible seemed possible in that case, all she had to do was not be afraid of taking the leap of faith.

"Ok….I can try," she, mentally, mused, "Just have to not be scared. Make the leap."

With a small whimper, unlike the mighty yell Hawk had given before his jump, Pixie ran for the edge. Close and close the edge came, her sneakers skittering through the gravel that was strewn about the roof, her heart hammering in her chest.

Three feet….two feet….a single foot.

The edge grew closer and closer as Pixie started to pick up speed. She knew there was no turning back now. It was just as likely that if she did try to stop, her own momentum would take her over the edge of the roof. She was committed now, had to make the jump whether she was ready or not.

Once the edge came, Pixie leapt outwards into the space between the buildings. It was exhilarating, the feeling of not being subject to gravity or, at least, being able to circumvent it for a while. She tried not to look down but couldn't help herself, curious as to what the people below her looked like.

Suddenly, a chill ran through her.

She shouldn't be able to do this. Flying was impossible for humans. It was only certain animals that were able to fly and, last she checked, humans weren't on the list. Pixie began to flail her arms and legs like a drowning swimmer, certain that the motion was going to help her.

All at once, the ground came rushing up to meet her. Pixie steeled herself for the impact and whatever else was going to come with it. Logically, she knew a fall like this, if it didn't kill her, was likely to cause her serious injury. At the speed with which she was falling, there was no way to protect herself from the impact.

Much to her surprise, she didn't hit the ground in a splatter of limbs. Rather, the ground gave way for her, creating an almost comical and cartoon-like human shaped dent in the black asphalt of the street. As fast as it gave way, though, it spat her back out. She hit hard asphalt chest first, air coming out of her in a rush.

Pushing herself up, trying to catch her breath and ignore the fire in her chest as her lungs tried to refill with air, she noted that Hawk and Mouse were fine. They looked a bit worse for wear- the fall, she figured- but they were alive and well.

"I think we failed," Mouse noted, sounding none to pleased with himself.


	43. Eye of the Tiger

AN: Hiya everyone! Hope everyone's having a good summer or having a good start to the school year. I go back to school at the end of the month, actually. Dancing and Girl Scouts start soon after that. That said, I'm not going to rush summer being over! I have tickets to the baseball game this coming Friday and I'm hoping the heat wave we're having- Yes we're having another heat wave here in NYC- lets up. Though, baseball's always a good time, regardless of heat waves or not. Maybe not when it rains. Watching baseball in the rain isn't a good time at all! Anywho, back to the subject at hand. Thanks for reading my little story and letting me know what you think of it! Please, keep them coming and keep letting me know what you think about my little misadventure! All of you rock like a box of socks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight  
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival  
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night  
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger" (from "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor)

The whole idea of the "mind making things real"- A lesson Pixie learned after her first foray into the sparring program- was never more apparent when Pixie found herself being taken out of the jump program. It wasn't bad enough that she'd missed her leap of faith but now she found she was in a good bit of pain. Her chest, especially her ribs, felt like they were on fire. It hurt to take a deep breath, something that made Pixie frown.

Too many of her memories were linked to not being able to do something as simple as breathing. Most of her later memories- the ones before her release from the Matrix- saw her unable to function because she couldn't draw breath.

It was a shock to the system and, no matter how much she tried to tell herself that it was going to pass, Pixie was scared. This brought back too many bad memories.

It wasn't long before she found herself being swept off to the medical bay with her fellow rookies. The three failures- something Pixie wasn't going to forget because she wasn't a fan of failing at things- had lead to three different injuries. The small part of Pixie's mind that was still in control of itself and not made prisoner to the searing pain in her chest told Pixie that the different injuries were the result of the different ways they'd fallen.

Pixie took the fall mostly on her chest and stomach. She hadn't seen how the two make rookies fell but she knew whatever injuries they had, they were a direct result of how they fell. Pixie's mind ran through the myriad of injuries that she could have sustained. At the moment, she was just thankful that she survived the fall.

By some trick of fate or the programs they used on the ship she called home, she survived a fall that would have killed someone else. For that and that alone, Pixie was willing to endure the pain in her chest. Endure, of course, but not like in the least. Pain was something Pixie dealt with, knew it was part of life, but never liked.

The trip to the medical bay passed without event. Pixie hadn't noticed what was going on; really, since she was too busy concentrating on breathing and trying to ignore the pain in her chest. The world passed her by in a haze of similar looking metallic walls and people- fellow crew members- helping her with ladders. The simple task of climbing wasn't as easy as it normally was. Every time she reached up to grab a rung of the ladder, she was greeted with a jolt of pain in her chest.

Once in the medical bay, lying on a cold metal table, the young female looked to her left and noticed that she was the only female in the room. That fact didn't bother Pixie at the moment. As a matter of fact, she was slowly getting use to the fact that she was part of a minority on the ship. There were other things at hand, anyway, other things to observe.

On the next table over lay Mouse. He looked far paler than he had before and seemed to be asleep. As far as she could remember, he'd been fine after her fall and he seemed to stay that way for awhile on the ship. Whatever happened to him, it had been slow building. Using the medical information she'd had uploaded into her waiting mind, Pixie came up with a thousand and one- Alright not really that many but the point was still about the same- reasons Mouse had gone from speaking normally to looking very pale and breathing roughly.

Hawk sat upright on the table farthest from Pixie. He held a torn piece of cloth to his still bleeding mouth. The bright red color on the dirty looking piece of cloth made Pixie very afraid. There were only a few things- most of them not very good to say the least- that could cause something like that to happen.

Pixie was sure the three of them weren't alone in the room. There had to be at least one person in the room treating the three of them. It might have been more but Pixie wasn't sure of that fact. She knew, if she wasn't one of the people being treated, she'd probably be treating or, at the very least, helping with the treating of the others.

"Check Hawk...internal injuries," Pixie wheezed, speaking as loudly as she could to get the attention of whoever else was in the room.

She found that she lacked the ability to take a deep breath and had tried to say everything in one breath, speaking faster than she normally might have. Pixie knew if she were to resort to shallow breathing in order to compensate for her in ability to take a deep breath, she would, after a time, begin to hyperventilate. That would lead to the darkness that was unconsciousness---a place she did not want to visit ever again. 

"Hawk's fine. He bit his tongue and I gave him something to dull the pain. That's mostly drool tinged red. He'll live. Now, off with the sweater so I can check your ribs," Dozer explained, walking over to come stand in front of Pixie.

Pixie hesitated, not exactly comfortable with the situation she was in. Mouse was out for the count, eyes closed. Hawk was wide awake, however, and staring in her direction. His eyes had roved over to where she sat once Dozer had come over to her.

She felt acutely uncomfortable removing her bulky, sweatshirt in front of Hawk. She was fine with Dozer only because he was older and he had assisted Morpheus with her rebuilding all those years ago. She assumed that he had seen her in far less when she was rebuilt what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"What about Mouse?" she asked, still speaking in a hurried breath.

True, Pixie knew she was stalling and stalling wasn't exactly the smartest thing she could do given the circumstances. Waiting and speaking could make any injury she had worse. Well, make it worse if she had something very wrong with her- like broken ribs- but it might do nothing if she'd only had bruises on her body. Without actually being treated, there was no way of knowing to which end of the spectrum Pixie belonged.

"Mouse is sedated. He has a few hairline fractures in his ribcage. Nothing that isn't life threatening but we're going to keep an eye on him for a while, just to be safe," Dozer answered.

Pixie frowned, trying to think of another way to stall. Telling Hawk to turn his head sounded like a good idea but Pixie had a funny feeling that Hawk wasn't going to do it in the first place. He'd stare just to make her squirm, if not for any other reason. At least, in Pixie's head, that was what Hawk would do.

"Just nod or shake your head- I don't want to have to deal with a puncture if you have broken ribs but answer me this- do you not want to take your sweatshirt off because Hawk's in the room?" Dozer questioned, catching on to what Pixie was trying to do.

Heeding the older officer's words, Pixie simply nodded. Her face was a mix of blatant embarrassment and something akin to being ashamed. She figured she was old enough not to be bothered by Hawk staring at her but it was something she couldn't bring herself to get comfortable with. His eyes were boring holes into her, staring at her in a face set into an expression that just bothered Pixie for some reason, making her feel unclothed and on display.

That was probably why she felt she was ashamed of herself. Having thoughts like that, especially now that she was older and arguably wiser, seemed a bit on the childish side. It just seemed silly to her, for some odd reason, that Hawk staring at her would still bother her. 

Dozer grumbled something about kids, his tone leaning more towards joking than angry, and walked over a consol on the wall. He depressed a button on said console, speaking quietly into the grilled portion of it. Quietly enough that Pixie didn't hear a word she said. The medic figured it had something to do with getting someone to come and assist him.

Moments later, Switch trotted into the room, not exactly looking pleased that she'd been bothered. Pixie figured that the call had interrupted her while she was on one of the scant few breaks one might be able to scrounge up during the day.

Pixie felt badly for interrupting the other female is she had, truly, been on break. No one wanted to fill their time off being bothered by another person. Especially if that person was the constantly boasting Hawk.

"Take Hawk to his room and keep an eye on him there. I'll call you when you can bring him back in," Dozer explained.

The white haired female threw a dirty look in Hawk's direction. As far back as Pixie could recall- around the time of her own freeing and the disaster that was her introduction to the Construct and the truth- Hawk wasn't exactly liked by anyone on the ship. She could never quite figure out why since no one said anything. All Pixie knew was that he had done very little to endear himself to any of the crew, especially the female members.

Maybe the latter part of that Pixie understood.

"Why?" she groaned, her tone expressing her displeasure with the arrangement.

"Pixie won't let me treat her if Hawk's in the room. I think she's not comfortable with him seeing her without her sweater on," the older medic explained.

Without saying much of anything, and still scowling in Hawk's general direction, the white haired rebel helped the boy off the table. Not really helped, more like motioned for her to follow him and watched him hop off the table. Switch left, leading Hawk along the narrow hallways.

The boy was still holding the bloody piece of scrap to his mouth. The only difference was that now, he was trying to speak. Pixie figured he was probably explaining his failure to make the jump. Giving some excuse as to why he did do as well as he figured he should have.

Seeing Hawk gone, Pixie tried to pull her sweatshirt off. There was no other excuse for her to use now. No other reason for her to keep stalling. A groan escaped as she made the effort to get the bulky item of clothing off of her person. Just like when she'd been asked to climb ladders to get to the medical bay, lifting up her arms to tug the shirt over her head caused a rush of pain.

"Can't take sweatshirt off...hurts too much," she, breathlessly, said, trying not to whimper or start making any other noises.

The older medic sighed, walking back over to the table. He'd been busy a few inches away from Pixie, working with some strange piece of equipment that looked distinctly like a portable x-ray machine from the Matrix. With a little help from Dozer, who actually seemed to know what he was doing, Pixie managed to get herself out of her sweatshirt.

She looked down and visibly winced at what she saw. Her entire torso was covered in pulpy black-and-blues. It looked like she'd been on the losing end of a fight with someone wielding a baseball bat. To make matters worse, the bruises were as painful as they looked.

With practiced motions, searching for obvious fractures that might need setting, Dozer began to run his hands along Pixie's battered rib cage. Even the smallest touch hurt Pixie. Though she'd planned to put up with his examination with the same stoic face she'd used in the Matrix, the plan quickly changed as they nearly always did.

"Don't touch...hurts," Pixie exclaimed, trying to bat Dozer's hands away.

Dozer grabbed her wrists with one of his hands, holding them over her head. Pixie wanted twist out of his reach but that was out of the question. Every twist would have caused her chest to throb more and more.

"I know. I know. I'm hurting you. Stop moving and it will be over with very soon," Dozer said, speaking to Pixie like she was just a small child who didn't want to take their medicine.

It was a voice Pixie never remembered hearing. She'd been sick plenty as a child- as her rather thick Matrix medical record attested to- but no one had ever used a voice quiet like that where medical treatment was concerned. Usually it was that sweetly false, placating voice people tended to use where she was concerned.

Pixie had little love for that voice because, once she got older, she realized it was all together fake. It was the voice she now associated with all things dishonest.

"I know," she gasped, "Medic too."

Fight her urge to twist and turn away from the older medic, Pixie allowed Dozer to check her ribs. It wasn't the most pleasant of experience but Pixie knew it was something she was going to have to put up with. She had to get better in order to try that jump again. She'd already decided that she was going to make it across the chasm between the two buildings. No matter what it took or how often she fell.

"Good job, Pixie," Dozer, sarcastically, commented, taking a narrow length of cloth and starting to wrap Pixie's injured ribs, "nothing's appears to be broken but you did a great job of bruising them. You're going to be sore for a very long time."

"Nothing broken, though. Right?" Pixie asked, wanting to be totally sure that she'd heard correctly.

"Nothing's broken," the older medic assured her, "I'm going to give you something to take the edge of though now and then again before you go to bed. Otherwise I don't think you're going to be able to sleep."

Pixie frowned; she'd never liked being sedated. Being sedated always left her with a fuzzy headed feeling once whatever was used on her wore off. It was that feeling Pixie wasn't particularly fond of. She'd decided she'd rather have a clear head that feel like her head was half in the clouds.

"Nothing too strong?" she asked, trying to say more but not wanting to.

"I'm not going to knock you out," Dozer promised, "just something so you'll be able to sleep comfortably."

It was much later that Pixie realized their definitions of "too strong" greatly differed. He'd given her something that hadn't knocked her out totally but had made her do drowsy that sleep was the only thing she could feasibly see herself doing. Maybe that was half because of what she was given and half because sleep was the only option she had to escape her achy ribs.

Trinity wasn't entirely sure why Morpheus had sent her down, once her night watch had ended, to check on the three injured rookies. Make sure they hadn't had any…unforeseen…complications as a result of their injuries. The job seemed more Dozer's territory but she wasn't asking any questions. It was late and it was on her way anyway. An order was an order, anyway and Trinity was a solider first and foremost. That meant, sometimes, following orders one didn't totally understand.

As she was shutting Hawk's door- The boy was sprawled out on his back, snoring loudly- she bumped into Cypher. The goateed rebel appeared to coming from his own room, heading out into the ship for reasons Trinity didn't want to even guess on.

"You sparred with these kids yet?" he wanted to know, vaguely gesturing to the three alike doors that represented the rooms of Mouse, Pixie, and Hawk.

"I have," she answered, "they all show varying degrees of promise. Why?"

"Just curious," Cypher, casually, answered, "Don't think the girl's going to get very far outside of that medic stuff. She just doesn't seem to have it in her."

Trinity had to agree that Cypher's point was partially valid. Pixie was still a very hesitant fighter, almost like she was still trying to get use to being able to fight. Still, in the few training sessions Trinity had put the young girl thought, Pixie had shown she wanted to get better. It was just going to take her some time.

"Who do you think is going to show themselves as the exceptional one, then?" Trinity wanted to know, trying to figure out where Cypher was taking this conversation.

"Hawk, I think. He's shown that he wants to fight, at least," Cypher answered.

Thinking a moment, Cypher, grinning in an almost wicked manner, added, "How about this? Once these kids make their jumps, you take the girl and I'll take Hawk, train them for- I don't know- four weeks. After that, we put the two of them in a training program; first one to successfully score on their opponent wins."

Trinity gave Cypher a questioning look, asking, "Why should I do this? What's in it for me?"

She wasn't going to take Cypher up on his bet until he answered, "I'll take all of your night shifts for a month if the little Pixie wins. If Hawk wins, you have to take all of mine. Sounds like a fair deal to me. I mean, who wouldn't want a few hours more sleep."

"You know what, against my better judgment, I'm going to take you up on that bet. The least it'll do is get Hawk to stop talking about how he's the best rookie on the ship," Trinity answered, shaking Cypher's strangely sweaty palm to seal the deal.

"We'll see about that," Cypher laughed, sounding as if he'd won already.

"I'm sure we will," Trinity retorted.


	44. Live and Let Die

AN: Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside, come inside. Alright, this show does have an end but I am still glad you're around, reading this little misadventure. Anyway, I hope everyone's having a good time doing whatever it is they're doing. I'm starting school again relatively soon but, never fear, I should, hopefully, have no issues updating this little misadventure. Not unless some major things happen between school and all the other stuff I do and my sister's school work. Usually, I help my sister with her school related work and I have not a clue what her semester's going to be like this year. Back to the topic at hand, though! Please keep reading and reviewing my little story! I appreciate any opinion you have on my little misadventure, whether it is good, bad, or indifferent! Like I said, any and all opinions are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"What does it matter to ya  
When you got a job to do  
You gotta do it well  
You gotta give the other fellow hell…" (From "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings)

"Pixie, may I speak with you?" Trinity requested, seeking out the young girl in order to have a small conversation with her before starting what would amount to tougher training than what she'd normally receive from the rest of the crew.

Her tone was authoritative, asserting her higher rank even if she didn't mean to do so. Still, Trinity didn't want Pixie saying "no" to the request. Especially after it had been a small chore finding her.

Finding Pixie hadn't exactly been easy, even with Morpheus telling Trinity where to find the young medic. Pixie seemed to have this uncanny ability to blend into any circumstances. Well, maybe not blend in, so to speak. Rather, she worked so diligently and so silently that she was easy to miss sometimes.

The strange thing was that Pixie didn't seem bothered by that fact. Where some might be bothered by the fact they were so easily looked over by others, the very thought didn't seem to affect Pixie. If anything, she seemed rather happy with the fact she was easily looked over. No one was quite sure why- Actually, no one was quiet sure if the fact Pixie wasn't bothered by her almost invisibility was true- because Pixie said very little most of the time.

Still, she worked hard and followed orders to the letter. Pixie had also shown the ability to think around the orders she was given. She was capable of following orders while making sure she remained a free thinking individual. Not just a body that lived and followed orders. She wasn't joyfully marching in rank and file like some soldiers did. Pixie thought and did what she felt was best, so long as she didn't directly disobey any orders.

The fact she was very quiet and kept to herself wasn't exactly a problem, all things considered.

Pixie, hearing her name, snapped out of a work induced reverie. She'd been thinking about her other friends- Aisling, Adoh, Ngaio, and Wheeler- wondering what they were doing at the moment. She'd managed to hear from both of the twins- Both enjoying their new jobs immensely while missing each other, though neither of them knew that fact- as well as Wheeler. Her conversation with the scruffy male with dirty blond hair had been far too short but she was glad to hear from him anyway. Out of all her friends, she missed Wheeler the most for some reason.

The young female extracted her entire form from the piece of machinery she had been working on. Narrow and wiry, Pixie was more often than not assigned to repairs that had to be done in tight quarters. Places where others either didn't fit or didn't want to work because they were to cramped. Pixie, who was just glad she fit in such spaces, was more than happy to work in such quarters. She enjoyed keeping herself busy since her skills as a medic weren't needed every moment of every day.

Much to her chagrin, what medical skills she had didn't seem needed at all. Maybe that was a good thing since that meant the individuals she was working with were, generally, healthy and able to work. The only practiced she'd gotten so far was helping Dozer treat Hawk and Mouse after trainings and attempts at making the leap of faith, as she called it.

Without medical work to do, and in between her own training sessions, Pixie had to do something. Thus her doing repair work in places where no one else really wanted to work. She had to keep busy somehow.

"Of course, ma'am," Pixie replied, wiping her hands on the sides of her pants and trying to extract herself as fast as humanly possible, "What happened?"

The younger female was covered, head to toe, in engine grease, oil, and other things of that nature. It was obvious, from her appearance, that not only had she been working rather hard but she'd been working for quite some time as well.

Her hair, which Pixie had failed to tie back before working, was in knots and dirty beyond compare. Usually Pixie remembered to pull her hair back- usually keeping it tucked into her battered sweater or in something like a braided bun that never failed to come loose and hang in a loop from the back of Pixie's head- but she'd forgotten to tie it back for some reason. Either that or it had been tied back and, at some point, it had come undone and Pixie just never noticed.

Trinity, who kept her hair short, couldn't understand how Pixie dealt with her hair. It was way to long to be practical and, much to her confusion; Pixie's long hair was part of her appearance in the Construct. There was just something impractical about trying to fight while dealing with a long braid that whipped around like an extra appendage.

Trinity gave Pixie the good once over; trying to assess just what she was going to train. Since both she and Hawk had managed the jump, Pixie before Hawk actually, Cypher had reminded her of their bet. She had exactly four short weeks to take this girl from novice to trained fighter. Cypher had already begun working with Hawk, using every available moment to jack in and work with the young man.

Cypher had, actually, started working with Hawk just after Pixie made her jump instead of waiting for Hawk to accomplish the same feat. An unfair advantage to say the least but Trinity wasn't going to say anything. As far as she was concerned, with enough training, Pixie could mostly likely outstrip Hawk in any fight.

As long as she was properly motivated, of course.

Trinity wasn't sure if Hawk knew about the bet but she was willing to bet her boots that Hawk had some inkling about what was going on. Assuming that being honest was the best course of action, Trinity decided to disclose the entire scenario to Pixie. She had told Switch about it, anyway, so it only seemed fair to tell Pixie as well. Let the younger female know why she was going to be put through an almost cruel and unusual training regimen.

"Nothing happened, Pixie, I just needed to have a word with you," Trinity answered, wondering if she was making Pixie nervous.

The younger female seemed to be nervous at any rate. She was looking at a point far over Trinity's head and someplace to the left of it while she fiddled with the frayed hem of her sweater.

"What's happened, ma'am?" Pixie asked, wondering if she'd managed to get herself into trouble.

As far as Pixie knew, she'd done everything Morpheus had asked her to do. She hadn't gone against the given ordered- no reason to, actually, since all she was doing was repair work and that was pretty cut and dry- so she could think of nothing that could have, possibly, screamed trouble. Unless someone said she'd done something she wasn't supposed to- Unlikely since the last time Pixie had seen Hawk, the only person she could think of doing something like that, was earlier in the day before he'd been spirited off for training- Pixie wasn't sure what this impromptu meeting was about.

That fact alone doubled the nerves she was feeling at the moment. The unknown always held just the smallest fraction of "creepy" to her. Maybe to everyone else in the human race as well. Pixie wasn't sure and wasn't about to consider the fact until she figured out what was going on now.

Maybe she'd entertain that idea later since Pixie did enjoy thinking about things.

Getting the sense Pixie was reading more into this than she probably should have been, Trinity explained, "You're not in trouble, if that's why you think I'm here. Like I said, I need to talk to you."

"I'm all ears, ma'am," Pixie said, relief running through her body and making her feel slightly giddy.

She was rather glad she wasn't in any trouble, especially since she couldn't figure out what she might have done wrong. Still, it was odd that one of the more senior members of the crew needed to speak with her.

"Maybe," Pixie, mentally, mused, "I'm blowing all of this out of proportion. Maybe I'm just getting a new assignment or I have to train or something. Something like this doesn't, necessarily, mean I'm in trouble."

"The reason I need to speak with you is this. Cypher and I have a small bet going between the two of us. If I am able to train you well enough to beat Hawk in a fair fight, he has to take all of my late night watches. Hawk beats you and I have to take all of Cypher's watches," Trinity told the younger female.

As an after thought, the older female added, "Cypher doesn't seem to think you have it in you to be an active member of this crew. Says you're not able to fight."

Pixie looked confused for a moment as everything sank in. She hadn't guess that things like this happened on major ships. Part of her figured that things like this were commonplace on ships like the ones her friends- The exception, maybe, being Chian who worked on the _Logos_.- worked on.

Then again, there were long spans of time when nothing happened on the ship. It was during these times the crew trained or repaired the ship or watched the code for potentials. She guessed, then, that something had to be done in order to pass the time. What Pixie hadn't assumed, was that she'd be taking part in anything. After all, she was new to the job.

"I'm confused. Does that mean you're going to train me or something?" Pixie questioned, a slightly perplexed look on her face.

"If that what it takes, yes I am. I do not want to lose to Cypher," Trinity answered, matter of factly.

With an almost knowing expression, the older female added, "And I am sure you do not want to lose to Hawk. You've already one-upped him once in that capture the flag game. I'm sure you'd like to do it again."

Trinity hoped that, by using that idea, she could spurn Pixie to train harder, to work to make herself faster, stronger, more in control of her surroundings. From the amount of grime covering her, it was easy to see that Pixie was already a hard worker and, from watching her work with others on the crew, it was plain that Pixie wanted to improve.

She just needed a bigger push or something to that effect.

Though Pixie wasn't fond of being a pawn in a game between two other individuals, the idea of Hawk one-upping her was less appealing. She knew she'd never hear the end of it if Hawk managed to get the better of her. Not that it mattered, of course, but, still, she didn't want to hear him gloat.

Plus, there was one other reason she had. It was a very silly reason- At least it sounded silly in her own mind- but it was still a reason.

"I once promised that Hawk would never ever get to win at anything when he had to go up against me and to that I'm going to hold true," Pixie admitting, her mind drifting back a day that seem so very long ago and the promise only Wheeler knew about.

Admitting her silly little promise had Pixie blushing a very bright red. It seemed like a silly reason to her but she'd never been one to break promises. She hated letting people down almost as much as she hated breaking promises.

Trying to put on her toughest face, Pixie asked, "When do we start?"

"As soon as we can," Trinity answered, sounding slightly surprised.

Well, surprised and marginally glad. Things would be easier on all involved now since Pixie was willing. Willing and, it seemed, rather motivated to win.

All that remained now was to get in touch with someone who could help her with Pixie's training. There was no rule that stated she wasn't allowed to have outside help in training her young charge and Trinity had one person in mind that could do the job.

She just hoped they would cross paths sooner rather than later.


	45. Real World

AN: Hiya everyone! Summer's winding down here and fall looms on the horizon. I don't really mind fall, so long as it's not too cold. Actually, I do enjoy the fall holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving, mostly because I like decorating the windows, house, and yard for the holidays. Well, help with decorating the yard anyway. I leave the big stuff that goes out there to my father. His job usually involves wiring and things like that. Either way, it's a good time! Fall also means a return to Girl Scouts and dance class. Both things I'm looking forward to for a variety of reasons! I don't mind school starting either…always did like school. Anywho, I should be able to update this story like normal, even with everything starting back up again! I hope you're all enjoying the roller coaster ride that is this little misadventure. Please, keep the reviews coming! You all rock!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"I wonder what it's like to be a super hero  
I wonder where I'd go if I could fly around downtown  
From some other planet, I get this funky high on yellow sun  
Boy I bet my friends will all be...stunned, they're stunned…" (from "Real World" by Matchbox 20)

The _Nebuchadnezzar_ set itself down in one of the larger sewage canals. A smaller ship was already resting in the canal. To see the ships together, it conjured up the image of a large airplane in the Matrix resting next to one of the smaller prop planes used for dusting crops. There was something almost comical about the display.

It probably would have been funnier if the surroundings hadn't been so bleak. There was something about the two ships sitting together on the rock and metal strewn sewer, while the danger of attack loomed in every nook and cranny that took the amusement out of everything.

"What ship is that?" questioned Hawk, staring out the cockpit window and pointing.

He'd been wandering about the ship, on break from whatever he was doing, looking for a place to be. The cockpit seemed like a logical place for him to be at the moment, since the ship was traveling through the sewers of the Real World. Since he'd been standing silently and watching the view- so to speak- no one paid Hawk any mind. They let him stand there and stare, simply because he wasn't causing trouble anyplace else.

"The _Logos_," Morpheus answered, without turning his head and not giving any further explanation to the young man.

Pixie, who'd been heading back to her quarters to wait for either a new assignment or more training, looked up from the ground at the sound of the ship's name. She had a friend on the _Logos_, a friend she hadn't seen since getting assigined a position on the _Nebuchadnezzar_.

Part of her was hoping that this meeting with the other ship would mean a break from her training. Since the conversation she'd had with Trinity two weeks prior, Pixie had found herself subject to some of the most brutal training she'd ever experienced. Training that left her tired and feeling beat up almost every night. If it wasn't Trinity running her ragged in every conceivable martial arts program, it was Apoc or Switch drilling her on weapons.

Pixie wasn't fond of using firearms but knew they were an integral part of her job. Most who were free from the Matrix but still worked within its virtual confines carried them as she would too. It did not, however, feel all that comfortable to her.

"What happened to it?" Mouse piped up; looking up from the small hand held computer he had been intently starting at.

He was working on some new program for use on the ship, as was the job he'd been drafted to do. Mouse, as he had been when he and Pixie were in Zion's Academy together, was a very skilled programmer. Given enough time, Pixie was almost sure he could create anything in the virtual world.

His latest endeavor had been declared "top secret," by Mouse and no one else. He wasn't say two words about what he was creating in his virtual space. All he would say was that it was something they would all enjoy to greater or lesser degrees, depending on the person.

"Nothing happened to it, Mouse. We're just here to have some cross ship training in order to help all of you become better rounded," Morpheus replied.

Standing in the hallway, peering into the door, and listening to the exchange between Mouse and Morpheus made Pixie wonder if this training was more than a mere coincidence. There was the looming battle between her and Hawk and Trinity had mentioned she wanted Pixie to train with someone on another ship. Trinity had never said what ship she was waiting for so Pixie knew it could have easily been this ship.

Leaving Tank and Dozer to watch the ship, Morpheus led the rest of his crew over to the _Logos_. Ordering his rear guard, consisting of Trinity, Apoc, and Switch, to keep their weapons trained on the surrounding tunnels, he banged on the ships' entrance ramp. Pixie, Hawk, and Mouse found themselves sandwiched between their captain and the rest of their crew. Knowing the risk they were taking as they walked outside the confines of their ship, Pixie kept her eyes peeled. Every small sound, every little movement perceived out of the corner of her eye, to her, was an on coming attack by the Sentinels.

The ramp lowered, coming to rest on the ground with a metallic clang. The sound made Pixie jump a few feet in the air, making Hawk laugh hysterically.

"Paranoid much, Pixie Sticks?" he asked, around his laughing.

Pixie frowned in his general direction, not wanting to gratify his words with a response. She knew she was being paranoid but she also figured a good, strong dose of paranoia was good for keeping people alive. It was healthy more than hurtful, in Pixie's mind.

"Get in," almost ordered the gray figure standing at the top of the entrance ramp, cutting off Pixie's train of thought and getting her attention back to the here and now, "she'll kill me if anything happens to her ship."

The group darted into the ship, weapons sweeping the area as the ramp closed up behind them with the sound of groaning gears. For a long moment it was dark but, soon, the area was awash in the stark lighting that all ships had.

Standing in a loading bay that was far smaller than the one on the _Nebuchadnezzar_, Pixie didn't have very long to look around. Following the gray man- Pixie wondered if it was a trick of the light or his clothing was making the man's skin look a bit on the gray side- the contingent from the _Nebuchadnezzar _was brought to the very small Core of the _Logos_.

Space was so tight that Pixie found herself standing just outside the doorway with Hawk and Mouse. Actually, Pixie preferred it outside the door. She was more comfortable watching the situation without actively taking part in it.

"If it isn't Captain Morpheus and the crew of the _Nebuchadnezzar_," commented the dark skinned woman standing near the center of the room, hands on her hips.

"Niobe," Morpheus intoned, as a way of greeting.

"Talk about tension," Hawk whispered to Mouse.

Though she rarely ever did, Pixie was inclined to agree with Hawk. The tension between the two captains was nearly palpable. The two captains seemed to radiate some type of strong feelings for the other. The problem was, Pixie wasn't sure if the feelings were for good or for ill. They were just sort of there, clogging the air and making Pixie very nervous. The situation seemed, to her, to be very combustible. Dangerous like a powder keg on a burning pirate ship.

Since the situation at hand was making Pixie uneasy, she decided to focus her attention on the fact the Core of the Logos was so much smaller than the one she was use to see on the _Nebuchadnezzar_. There were fewer chairs used for jacking into the Construct or the Matrix on this ship, and, on a whole, the room was cramped looking. Very claustrophobic in Pixie's humble opinion.

"Don't know how to say hello to an old friend or, perhaps, you've forgotten about me already," someone commented, coming up behind Pixie and steering here away from Hawk and Mouse and into the crowded Core.

Though she'd initially jumped, Pixie recognized the owner of the voice. This person wasn't, exactly, a threat to her. If anything, the owner of the voice was something like an older sister to Pixie.

"I just haven't had time to get in touch with your ship, Chian," Pixie countered, turning to face her friend, "This is, really the first time your ship and my ship have been on the same broadcast depth."

Chian started to laugh, in a good natured sort of way. She was a few years older than Pixie- about three or so- and a bit taller than the medic. Hispanic looking with short dark hair- not as dark as Pixie's. More like a very dark brown with some dark red in it- and hazel eyes, Chian was clad as most everyone else in the room. She had a worn blue sweater with holes in the elbows, and black pants and boots. Her clothing seemed to actually fit here where Pixie's made her look lost in their fabric folds.

"Sure you haven't. Someone told me you had time to sneak off to talk to Wheeler. Couldn't do the same for me? Here I thought we were friends…" the older female countered, giving Pixie a smile that implied a great deal.

Pixie blushed a bright pink, knowing her friend was implying many things. Most things Pixie hadn't even meant to imply. She'd just wanted to talk to Wheeler because they were friends and, besides, she'd promised to get in touch with him once she knew where she was working. It only seemed fair that she make good on her promise and tell Wheeler.

"How'd you know about that?" Pixie asked, fiddling with her hands behind her back.

She wasn't entirely sure how Chian knew about that conversation. Obviously, she hadn't told her since they hadn't spoken in some time. There had to be another party involved here. Pixie, fervently, hoped it wasn't Wheeler who had gone and told Chian everything. He really didn't seem like the type of person to do that, though.

"I have a friend on the _Shatterpoint_," she cryptically replied, "they told me. I didn't know you and Wheeler were that close."

Pixie, blushing a deeper pink, tried to say something but her voice had taken its leave for the moment. She looked around, hoping for some sort of distraction. Something that would get her out of this very uncomfortable conversation.

"Pixie, come here. We have training to get to," Trinity called, from the other side of the small room.

The medic, though glad to end the conversation with Chian, frowned and gave a small sigh. True she wanted to have a break from her training and she wanted to end the conversation that had started between her and Chian because it was making her uncomfortable but she also wanted a brief break from the training she'd been subjected to.

Just a few moments to just breathe and not worry about the looming fight with Hawk.

Still she wasn't one not to do what she was told. Slipping her way through the room, moving here and there through the crowd without getting in anyone's way, Pixie made her way over to where Trinity was standing.

"What work are you doing with her?" Chian asked, following behind and not having as much luck as Pixie was getting across the crowded room.

Pixie, as she walked and in a reasonably low voice, explained the entire scenario to Chian---from the bet between the two elder crew members to how a training regimen had been set up. The odd thing was, in Chian's opinion, was that Pixie never put in her opinion on the whole situation. She just explained it like it was fact and there was nothing she could do about it.

"No pressure, right?" Chian commented, making a joke out of the situation, "Just make sure to wipe the floor with Hawk. I haven't seen you fight yet. Maybe, I'll tag along. It could be interesting."

Pixie shrugged, unsure of what to say in response. She wasn't the one in charge of the training sessions. That was Trinity's job while her job seemed to consist of learning as much as she could in the shortest time possible. Not only learn it but be able to replicate it. The idea of having an actual friend come along to train did seem like a rather idea, a whole lot better than Hawk or Cypher anyway.

The pair met up with Trinity and a smaller, Asian looking man near the entrance to the core. The two were deep in conversation and seemed to be more than comfortable with one another. Maybe comfortable was the wrong word. To Pixie, they seemed more relaxed around one another. As if all the trappings of rank and life as a solider were stripped away and the two of them could just be themselves.

Pixie was unsure about the nature of their relationship, whether they were an actual couple or just friends, but there seemed to be a rapport already there. Either they were friends or they were something beyond friends.

"Pixie, this is Ghost. My dear brother, this is Pixie. She's the one I was telling you about," Trinity said, by way of introduction.

"Did she just say brother? What in the world?" Pixie mentally mused, a baffled expression crossing her still slightly pink face.

There was nothing even remotely similar between the two older figures. They couldn't have, actually, been related unless the rules in the Real World were radically different than the rules in the Matrix. Still, bending the rules of inheritance, even here in Zion, seemed highly unlikely. Even in the Real World, the rules of genetics appeared to be the same. As far as Pixie could tell anyway, they were the same.

"How are you two brother and sister?" Pixie asked, sounding incredulous and rather confused.

She was still looking between the pair, trying to make sense of how they were brother and sister. The part of her mind that was science related was looking for even the smallest subtleties between the pair. The tinniest of similarities that could give her a clue as to how they were related.

"We were unplugged on the same day---different ships, though---so our birthdays here are the same. We've been friends since we were both unplugged, not unlike you and Wheeler," Trinity explained, answering Pixie's question.

That made a bit more sense to Pixie, even though this was the first time she'd ever heard of two people being unplugged on the same day. Doing something like that sounded quite dangerous to Pixie. After all, wires and messages could get crossed and no one could get picked up.

The idea of pod born individuals considering themselves family made some sense to the medic. Pod borns had no family to speak of in Zion but they could make friends and consider them family. After all, Pixie had an older sister, so to speak, in Chian.

Well, Chian said that was her title, anyway. That had been back in the orphanage, though, and Pixie wasn't sure if the title still held. Pixie had a funny feeling that Chian still considered herself a sister of sorts.

"Shall we take this to your ship? I'm not entirely sure we have room enough here with the others on your ship training here as well," Ghost questioned, directing the question to Trinity.

Trinity nodded, looking around the room, added, "It seems like we've waited a little to long. Your Construct seems to be in use right now."

Looking behind her, Pixie noted that Niobe had jacked into the Construct with Hawk and Mouse. Even if there as room enough- and there wasn't- Pixie knew that you could load two separate programs in the Construct. Not yet anyway.

If Mouse had anything to do with it, you would soon be able to run multiple Construct programs. Well, that was his big future plan anyway. At the moment, he was busy with whatever Morpheus had him making. His "top secret" project.

"Sparks," Ghost called, causing the operator to turn away from his console for a moment, "I'm going over to the _Nebuchadnezzar _with Trinity and her friend."

"You want me to make sure the captain knows where you are?" he questioned, pointing over to Niobe.

Ghost nodded, answering the operator's question with the gesture instead of words. He walked over to the operator's station and pulled a disk from the box resting at Sparks' elbow. Said disk was tucked into the pocket of his pants in one careful motion.

"Chian coming with you?" Sparks called before turning back to the program he'd been starting to run and blowing the cover off the fourth member of the party.

Trinity threw a sharp look in Pixie's direction, annoyed that her charge had disregarded her orders. She had told her it was not a social visit. They had come over to the_ Logos_ to pick up Ghost, who had agreed to help with Pixie's training. Ghost was one of the most talented warriors she knew in that he could use the Matrix to his advantage and teach others to do likewise. She figured that it would be best if Pixie was exposed to different fighting styles since she had no idea what Cypher was training Hawk to do.

If that was the case...maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to bring Pixie's friend along.

"Chian is coming with us," Trinity confirmed, much to Pixie and Chian's confusion.

The pair had not expected that turn of events. From Trinity's annoyed tone, she had guessed her friend was going to be told to stay on the _Logos _and she was going to be taken to the _Nebuchadnezzar_ with Trinity and Ghost. Pixie wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, though, so she didn't say anything.

"Any idea why that happened?" Chian, quietly, questioned, as the small group made their way back across the sewer floor to the waiting _Nebuchadnezzar_.

Pixie shook her head, braid whipping across her back like a tail of sorts, and answered, "Not a clue. I'm just glad I didn't get into trouble. I have a funny feeling that whatever training I was going to get would be ten times worse if I were in some sort of trouble. Have you ever trained with Ghost before?"

"Of course," Chian commented, with a laugh, "Unlike you, there are only four of us on the crew. Out of us four only three of us can go in so there isn't much of a choice on who to train with."

"How does he fight? What sort of style of martial artist is he?" Pixie asked, assuming that she was going to have to spar with the Asian man.

It never hurt to glean as much information as possible before heading into something new. Going into something blind was never, in Pixie's estimation, a good idea because it was a surefire way to get hurt. Even the smallest bit of information could provide the biggest advantage in any sort of situation.

"I can't really describe it," Chian answered, "You're going to have to see it for yourself. Whatever I say isn't going to do it justice, not by a long shot. He's just, well, really good and really efficient when it comes down to it."

It was that thought that rang through Pixie's head as she made her way back to her own ship. Her mind was whirling as she tried to figure out what Chian was trying to tell her without actually, directly, saying anything to her.

Everything else was sort of done by rote.

The young girl recalled being marched straight back into the core and settling into the hanging chairs on the far right side of the room. She was aware that someone had jacked her in and she had waited for an unknown amount of time in the white space that was the Construct.

The time she'd been waiting, however, must have been quite short because before Pixie knew it, she was standing in the middle of some kind of garden. The sky above her was a lovely shade of baby blue with wispy white clouds hanging in the sky like streams of cotton candy. Around her, were many small wooden buildings, some with railings around them and others that lack them. Rocks of all shapes and sizes were on the ground along with low, scrubby plants. There was even a bridge stretched across a dry stream bed. Pixie figured it was there more for decoration than anything else.

The place was wonderful to look at and Pixie wanted to do her fair share of exploring. Still she knew she was there for a reason and her dilly dallying wouldn't be tolerated.

Pixie looked down, wanting to see if her clothing reflected her new surroundings. She wore a black body suit- The suit was short sleeved, only covering her shoulders, with a high collar that opened to a small "v" in the front. Along the left side, on a diagonal towards her collar bone, were two red buttons. The buttons were shaped like dainty flowers and appeared to go through loops in the fabric of the suit.- and loose fitting, black dance pants. On her feet were what appeared to be some kind of black slipper-type shoes. She could never quite figure out why in the world she always wound up in dancer's gear for she was not a dancer---never had been, never would be.

Walking around to the other side of a low wooden building, Pixie found Ghost. The Asian male was sitting in a meditative position, hands folded in his lap. His expression was fairly unreadable through the black sunglasses he wore.

"Come, sit," he offered, catching Pixie unaware and making her jump a bit.

She hadn't, for some reason, expected Ghost to speak. He seemed to be deep in meditation and didn't even seem to know Pixie had arrived.

Not wholly sure about what was going on, Pixie perched on a smaller rock just to Ghost's right, resting on her haunches like a cat ready to spring. She kept glancing around as if expecting someone to jump out and try to attack her. Sitting and waiting just didn't seem like any sort of training to her. Unless it was a form of training she hadn't yet been exposed to.

Still, being caught off guard and, thus, being at a disadvantage, didn't seem like a good thing to Pixie either. Actually, it seemed a bit dangerous.

"Relax, just relax," intoned the older rebel, speaking in a soft, measured tone, "Nothing will happen to you here."

She waited for the "yet" she felt was coming. There had to be a reason for her to be in this program, a reason that did not include sitting on a rock. Ghost didn't speak again, going back to his silent reverie. Pixie, feet falling asleep from resting on their tips, sat Indian style on the rock. She had to admit it was very peaceful here, among the strange buildings and the even stranger gardens.

Still keeping her guard slightly up, Pixie began to let her mind wander. She was thinking about what she was going to do when they got back to Zion, how she wanted to visit Rain and Eli, and just how much she wished Wheeler was on her ship instead of Hawk. It wasn't that she disliked Hawk- She didn't hate him as much as one figured she might.- it was more like she just wasn't fond of him either.

Pixie was so caught up in her reverie, her mind busily working on one of the many thoughts that wandered through her head, that she did not see nor hear Ghost moving behind her. He attacked so swiftly that she hadn't known what was coming. She barely had time to get her hands up to defend herself.

Fighting Ghost was nothing like fighting anyone from her own crew. He moved with a purpose, every motion flowed into the next with an almost dancer like grace. Pixie had been told she was fast---well, faster than her fellow newbies on the _Nebuchadnezzar_---but Ghost was far faster than her. He was able to block nearly all of her shots, frustrating her to no bitter end.

Her defeat had come quickly and soundly. She was off of her feet in a matter of moments, landing in the sandy soil, her head narrowly missing one of the rocks that jutted out from the ground.

Said head was swimming as Ghost reached down a hand, pulling Pixie back to her feet. It took her a few seconds to regain her balance on dizzy feet. Ghost, much to her embarrassment, hadn't let go of her hand as she set herself right on her feet.

"She's pretty good, Trinity," Ghost said, sounding calm and collected rather than winded from the battle he'd just had with Pixie, "she just needs to learn to bend the rules in here a bit better. It seems like she has the right idea. It's just, actually doing it during battle that's escaping her."

Pixie looked up to notice Trinity and Chian standing on the small porch of one of the wooden structures. How long they were standing there, she could not say. Long enough, probably, to see Pixie being soundly defeated by Ghost. Her face turned a bit red, out of embarrassment, forcing her to look down towards the now dirt covered shoes she had on her feet.

"I was hoping you could solve that problem for me, dear brother. You've been able to teach nearly everyone that's crossed your path to do just that," Trinity said.

"What do you mean? Is that like what Morpheus told Hawk, Mouse, and I during the sparring program?" Pixie piped up, speaking in a small sort of voice.

Pixie had been trying to alter her surroundings as Morpheus had said they were capable of doing. She could do it, too, except it took her some thinking. After all, it was hard to get around the scientific knowledge that had been uploaded into her head. Science stated one thing- rules that had always seemed hard and fast to her- while she was being asked to disregard them and, almost, do as she pleased.

"I can't be sure what Morpheus said, since I was not present. Bending the rules of the Matrix allows one to do things that one would think would be impossible. Some shoot more accurately, others can defy gravity, or slow time," he explained, nodding his head toward Trinity when he mentioned the pausing of time.

Pixie only partially understood what Ghost was talking about. She'd seen the others on her crew do things that startled and amazed her in the Construct. Things that did involve defying gravity- jumping distances that would have been impossible for a normal person- or hit targets that were very far off and mobile.

Amazing things, to be sure, and things Pixie knew she'd like to be able to do as well. Even if she only knew how to do them just for her own peace of mind.

"Watch this," Chian commented, hopping over the railing and walking over to where Ghost stood, "This is going to be awesome."

Pixie scrambled away from Ghost, hoping to get a good vantage point on the fight. She took Chian's spot on the railing next to Trinity, her brandy brown eyes opened as wide as they could get so she could take everything in.

The pair circled; obviously familiar with each other's fighting style. Each seemed to be trying to surprise the other with their opening move.

Ghost struck first, with a flurry of kicks and punches that sent Chian to the railing Trinity and Pixie were leaning on. She retaliated by taking out his legs and leaping up and over his body, effectively getting herself out of the corner.

Pixie watched the fight, taking everything in. The two were quite good, possibly a result of their countless hours training together, their overall skill, the fact they were just showing off or a combination of the three.

Whatever the case was, she was quite impressed with not only Ghost but her friend. Pixie hadn't exactly pictured Chian as the fighting type, unless one counted the verbal altercations she'd gotten into with Hawk a few times at the orphanage. Those, the medic assumed, didn't count because they were, well, verbal and a far cry from the display Chian was putting on against Ghost.

"They're really good," Pixie mumbled eyes still on the fight.

"This is why I wanted you to meet Ghost. I believe he may be able to give you an edge over Hawk. I have it on good advice that his focus is more on strength than agility," Trinity informed Pixie, after a full five minutes.

She, too, was giving the fight her full attention. Pixie guessed she was silently cheering on her brother. The younger female was too busy watching to, actually, cheer for anyone.

Suddenly time seemed to slow to a crawl. Ghost pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it up in the air. End over end it flew, gaining altitude in the slowed time. Ghost, then, leap out of the way, cartwheeling and landing some distance away. Chian pulled out some sort of weapon from the pocket of her jacket and blasted the object out of the sky.

The pieces hit the ground with the sound of falling glass.

"That was really good," Pixie whispered.

The only response Pixie got was a simple nod from Trinity. It was a bit showy for her but it served its purpose. It had impressed Pixie and had given her a good example of the power being able to bend the Matrix rules in battle had.

"Being able to do that," Trinity stated, after a time, "should give you the edge over Hawk. Plus it can save your life in the Matrix. Useful to learn but understandably hard to do in the heat of a fight when your mind is on other things."

"And you want me to learn how to do that?" she asked, sounding skeptical and fighting the urge to comment that she wasn't sure she could even do that without thinking about it.

She had been told that her skill lie in her speed and the strange ability she had to nearly always land on her feet. Moving with syrupy slowness like that seemed to contradict what she had been told. One couldn't be fast and slow at the same time. That was contradictory and, thus, made no sense.

"Think of it as a puzzle that has to be solved. Puzzle out how and you'll have an easier time here and with Hawk," Trinity said, handing Pixie back off to Ghost and taking Chian off for some sparring of their own.


	46. Ready, Steady, Go

AN: Hey everyone! Another week (or so), another update. I just came home from the baseball game- my New York Mets versus the Philadelphia Phillies- and I'm happy to report that the Mets won! As much as I love going to baseball games, it's all the more fun when they win! Especially when they do something really dramatic like score seven runs in order to come from behind to win the game like the did today. Everyone in the stadium, at one point, was on their feet screaming and cheering. It's a great time! Anyway, school starts for me next week but it shouldn't cause any updating issues. For now anyway but I promise to try my best. To everyone who's been reviewing, you're all the best! I'm always happy to hear what you think about my little misadventure. Please, keep it up! I'm open to any criticism…good, bad, or indifferent.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Ready, steady, can't hold me back!

Ready, steady, give me good luck!

Ready, steady, never look back!

Let's get started….ready, steady, go!" (from "Ready, Steady Go" by L'Arc en Ciel)

If one thing could be said about Pixie, it was that she was one of the most logically illogical people on her ship. True to her training, Pixie could be one of the most logical individuals one ever wanted to speak with. Things in her world had to make sense, had to be able to be explained in some logical way.

Still, there was a part of Pixie's mind that didn't just deal with cool logic and reason. A part that was able to think outside the box, so to speak. Her logic- logic that served her well when she solved puzzles and when she was playing medic- could be very…fractured…at time. There were many times when things made sense to Pixie but made little sense to anyone else.

What she was being asked to do, though, was causing a small conflict between the parts of her mind. Pixie could do what Ghost was asking- bend the rules of the false reality around them- but not when she was fighting. Whenever she was fighting, she tended to rely more on her logic, seeing openings and getting out of the way when an opening closed around her, than anything else. She was acting out of self-preservation and nothing else.

Picking herself up from the ground, frowning and dusting off her once inky black clothing, Pixie frowned. She was growing more and more frustrated but not at the person she was sparring against. One would think her annoyance would have been focused squarely on Ghost, or, at least, Trinity, but that wasn't the case.

No, the young woman was annoyed with herself.

Pixie had little love for failure and hated being unable to do things. She knew there were things that had to be learned, that had to be practiced in order to improve upon but, still, she couldn't help but get frustrated with herself.

No matter how many times she tried to bend the world to her will, even in the smallest of ways, she was having little success. Every time she and Ghost sparred, every time she made an attempt at doing what she was being asked to attempt, Pixie found herself in the sandy soil of Ghost's program.

It was starting to annoy, to say the very least.

"Can we try once more, please?" she asked, again dusting off of her clothing and running a hand through her hair.

She looked a mess, a far cry from her neat and clean appearance when she'd started. Her hair was in a bit of a disarray, the long braid still in place but dark colored strands hung loose anyway. There was a fine coat of sandy soil all over her skin, hair, and clothing, attesting to the number of times Pixie had found herself in said sandy soil. What skin was visible- especially her arms- was cheery red and bruising in a few places.

Pixie knew she'd probably be sore later but that wasn't going to deter her. Once more she wanted to try. Another time to succeed or fail.

"Just once more. I do not want to tire you out or, worse, leave you injured. From what my dear sister, there is more than late night watches on the line here," Ghost acquiesced.

"You could say that," Pixie commented, in a smallish sort of voice.

She wasn't keen on adding that she wanted to make good on a promise she'd made herself once upon a time. She'd promised herself- and Wheeler since he'd been there too- that Hawk would never get the better of her ever again. This sort of situation seemed to fit into that category.

Giving her clothing another brush off, dusty soil rising off of her in an almost comical way, Pixie took a stance. It was a simple stance, a small variation of the one she'd used when sparring Morpheus. Pixie preferred it to anything fancier because it served its purpose, protecting her face and her midsection from an opening attack. A partial case of, if something worked, don't fix it.

After taking his own stance and waiting a few beats, Ghost attacked the young woman. He was moving slowly and forcing Pixie to do likewise. He was nullifying her speed, forcing her to rely on her other skills.

Pixie had once tried to counter Ghost's slowing down with speed and acrobatics but he out paced her. That led to her being down in the dirt…again.

He had told her that the key to properly altering the Matrix to do what she pleased was to clear her mind, to relax and let everything flow moment by moment. Not to think about how she was breaking the rules of the Matrix in the first place.

Pixie found it hard to relax, though, as she was constantly on the defensive, trying to keep Ghost at a safe distance. There was nothing relaxing about that, in her humble opinion, but she was still going to try.

Ghost swung at Pixie, aiming an open palm at the center of her chest. A strike that would, most likely, end their little battle. It was a strike Pixie did not want to come into contact with since Ghost said this was her last chance.

That said, Pixie did not want to ruin it. She took a deep breath, let it out, and bent her knees. Her entire being was focused on what she knew she had to do. She had to get up and over Ghost somehow. She couldn't allow him to hit her.

Pixie leap above the open palm, higher than she had ever before and hung there for a split second. Up in the air, obviously breaking one of the cardinal laws of physics, Pixie realized what the Asian man meant. It had taken a moment of relaxed clarity to get into the air.

A moment where she knew what she had to do and was willing to eschew any law in order to get it done. Well, any universal law, anyway. Maybe not one of those laws that could lead to an arrest in the Matrix. Pixie wasn't entirely sure how those played into her current situation. She highly doubted it did either way.

She hadn't been up there very long when she landed on her feet behind Ghost. Turning to protect herself from his next attack, Pixie spotted Ghost putting his hand up to stop her.

"What happened?" she asked, sounding concerned and slightly nervous.

Pixie was afraid that she'd done something incorrect, something the Asian man found disagreeable. She was already forming an apology in her head even though she wasn't sure why Ghost stopped their spar.

"Good," he stated, "Now you understand the concept, you can repeat that feat. It takes practice to do what my dear sister, your friend and I have done but, you've taken your first steps. I commend your efforts."

The young woman sighed, releasing a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She was relieved she wasn't in trouble or hadn't done anything incorrect. The fact she'd managed to bend the rules of the space around her, even for the briefest of moments, made Pixie smile.

It wasn't exactly a happy smile. It was more a smile of sheer relief. A smile that showed just how glad she was that she'd puzzled out what she was supposed to do. Being able to do it again remained to be seen but once was a start.

"Well, thank you for showing me how to do that," Pixie, politely, responded, "I mean, you're a very good teacher. If I was you, I'd be very angry that I didn't catch on faster. Though Chian, did say you were strangely calm sometimes."

Ghost gave a short laugh, reminding himself to have a word with Chian when they returned to the _Logos_. He was curious as to why she had told Pixie such a thing about him.

"'The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.'" Ghost stated, speaking as if what he was saying was an ordinary sort of turn of phrase.

Pixie gave him a baffled look, coking her head to one side. Ghost's comment wasn't exactly what she'd expected from him. Actually, it really didn't sound like anything Ghost had said prior to it.

"Anatole France," he said, answering Pixie's unspoken question.

Curious as to who Anatole France was but not wanting to ask for fear of revealing her own ignorance, Pixie allowed Ghost to lead her over to where Trinity and Chian were still hammering away at each other. They stood up against the railing for a handful of minutes, watching the two females fight.

Trinity and Chian grew dangerously close, making Pixie want to jump the railing. Next to her stood an implacably calm Ghost. He seemed nonplused by the approaching fight.

Without warning, he grabbed Trinity around the waist, pulling her out of the fight she'd been having with Chian. She gave Ghost a half dirty, half questioning look. It was obvious this was something done spur of the moment since not even Trinity had been expecting it.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, sounding confused and marginally angry.

"Watch," was all Ghost replied, before he gave Pixie a good, hard shove towards Chian.

Pixie stumbled a bit, a result of the unexpected shove, and found herself face to face with Chian. The older female hadn't noticed her original opponent had been replaced by a smaller, dust covered opponent.

Chian attacked, leaving Pixie to scramble to defend herself. She almost didn't get her guard up in time to block Chian's strike.

Not really wanting to fight her friend but having no other choice, since it didn't seem like Chian noticed Trinity's disappearance, Pixie started trading blows with her friend.

Sparring Chian was very different from sparring with Ghost, in Pixie's opinion. Though Pixie was trying her best to combine her speed with the fact she'd figured out how to bend the rules of the Matrix to her will, Chian was still far stronger than she was. The younger female was almost convinced Chian was pulling her punches in order not to seriously damage her opponent.

It was that fact that lead Pixie to believe that Chian knew exactly who she was fighting.

Pulling punches with Trinity was a good way to get your rear end handed to you in short order. The same couldn't be said for Pixie. True, she didn't like having people pull punches with her, treat her like she wasn't strong enough to handle things but she wasn't going to react as badly.

Pixie jumped out of the way of a flying kick, pausing in the air before she landed, only to have her legs swept out from under her when she came down. The smile on her friend's face made Pixie realize that Chian knew it was her.

She was just having fun with her.

Kipping up to her feet, Pixie returned the smile. She stepped into a new stance, another modified version of her usual double arm block, and rushed her friend. She was aiming to attack first instead of allowing Chian the opportunity to strike.

The two fought for quite sometime, using the terrain around them- sometimes making a mess of things- and bending rules like gravity with almost reckless abandon. Chian seemed to be a bit better at the latter and become deadly accurate, all of her blows hitting their mark.

Pixie, who still hadn't quite mastered the art, was getting mixed results with her attempts. Sometimes she'd jump higher or farther or time would slow to a crawl allowing her to cartwheel away from some well aimed strike.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Chian questioned using an x-block, wrists crossed to lock in Pixie's wrist, to ward off an incoming punch and pulling Pixie in to speak with her.

"Depends," Pixie replied, breaking the block by brining her forearm down along Chian's elbows and avoiding an oncoming roundhouse kick.

"On if what you're thinking involves a certain set of elder crew members," she added, slipping under Chian's guard and attempting to take her friend off her feet.

Chian's smile told her she had guessed correctly. Pixie gave an inward laugh---she wasn't sure she was keen on attacking her instructors but it sounded slightly fun. They had been the ones who "forced" her into sparring her friend.

The two began, slowly but surely, to move their fight toward Ghost and Trinity. The pair had been observing the fight from the shelter of one of the wooden buildings.

Four feet jumped onto the railing, catching the two elder crewmembers slightly off guard. Well, for all of a moment, anyway.

It wasn't long before Chian and Pixie, who were both laughing, were soundly defeated by their older crewmates. Still, it had been all in fun. Just an excuse to blow off some the tension that Pixie had been feeling since finding out she'd be facing Hawk.

Maybe exactly what she needed before heading towards the fight.


	47. Whisper

AN: Hey everyone! Welcome back to my little misadventure. I apologize for the delay but my computer's been acting strangely for about the millionth time. Between music programs that don't want to work and my typing program being evil to the millionth power- Evil to the point where it was shutting down even as I sat typing something up- my computer very nearly took a trip out of my front window. Now, I think things are back to whatever amounts to normal for my desktop. At least I hope so anyway, with school and everything getting into full swing. School's not so bad and I'm glad my dance classes started again too. It's my twentieth year at the studio so I'm hoping for some awesome dances! Anywho, thank you for the reviews on my story! I really do appreciate them and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"I know I can stop the pain  
If I will it all away  
Don't turn away  
(Don't give in to the pain)  
Don't try to hide  
(Though they're screaming your name)  
Don't close your eyes  
(God knows what lies behind them)  
Don't turn out the light…" (from "Whisper" by Evanescece)

There'd been a time when Pixie lamented the fact the movement of time- hours to days, days to weeks, and weeks to months and so on- but time seemed to run by just a bit too fast for her liking. That seemed to be a trend with things that were important but nerve wracking. The more frightening the situation, the more nervous it made a person, the faster time seemed to slip by. Slipping by fast enough that the event one worried about and wanted to avoid was rapidly upon the person.

It seemed, to Pixie anyway, like only a matter of days ago that Trinity approached her to inform her of the bet and of the fact she was going to be training the younger female to win a fight Cypher thought had a forgone ending. The training session with Ghost and Chian was an even shorter time ago, one or two days earlier at the very least. At least, it seemed that way to Pixie.

What seemed one way to Pixie was definitely not the way things really were. Four weeks had passed since the meeting with Trinity. Four weeks of what amounted to physical abuse as Pixie tried to train herself for a fight even she wasn't entire sure she could win.

The passing of the four weeks also meant one other thing. The fight was upon her. There was no turning back and there was no looking the other way, hoping that it would be forgotten about. No, doing that would just get her labeled a chicken and show she wasn't willing to be a team player. Neither were things Pixie wanted to have happen so she was willing to give the fight her all and hope by some miracle she might come out the victor.

Still, no matter what she told herself, Pixie was nervous. Her hands were shaking even as she sat herself down in one of the chairs in the Core. Her stomach seemed to be full of angry butterflies and her blood was running cold making her feel a bit chillier than normal. She had tried to eat but even the soupy goop that passed for food on the ship wasn't sitting well in her jumpy stomach.

She felt sick, too sick to actually accomplish anything but there was one benefit to spending a great deal of time sick in the Matrix. Pixie knew how to push herself past feeling ill to get the job done. A skill of sorts she was calling on now in order to get herself seated and settled into one of the hanging chairs in the Core.

Four weeks wasn't really a long time- in comparison with a normal life time- but, to Pixie, it seemed like forever. When she wasn't taking her turns on watch, repairing something within the bowels of the ship or patching up someone who had gotten hurt, she was training. Every moment of every day had been dedicated to getting her stronger, getting her ready to face an opponent who was stronger than she was and definitely more willing to fight.

Everything came down to this one fight-one battle-a little match between "friends." Of course, there was much more at stake than watches for their respective trainers. Pixie knew that she was not going to hear the end of it, if Hawk were to successfully vanquish her.

Allowing Hawk to gain a victory over her was not something Pixie wanted Hawk doing. She'd promised herself that he'd never get the best of her and that was what she was holding true to. Whether or not she was physically able to keep the promise…well, that remained to be seen.

Pixie entered the sparring program clad in her usual white on white karate outfit with her hair in a whip like braid down the middle of her back. She hadn't deviated from the white jacked and pants tied around the middle with the white belt. Sure, it marked her as the lowest of the low when it came to the martial arts- nothing more than a beginner- but Pixie figured the outfit fit the situation. She was always going to be someone's student when it came to the martial arts. There was always something new to learn so the belt remained white.

Looking around, she noticed that Hawk was no where to be seen. Despite the fact they'd been laying in chairs next to one another, Pixie knew there could be delays for a variety of reasons. At the moment, though, she figured it had a lot to do with Cypher giving Hawk some last minute pointers.

The room, itself, was familiar from the countless hours spent within its confines. She knew where every nook and cranny was, where the best spots for running up and down the walls, or "wall walking" as she called it, and how to use the angles of the room to her advantage. Pixie knew every small advantage she could gain was an important one. Something that could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Hawk appeared in the room, standing behind Pixie. She turned to face him, her guard already coming up. Pixie didn't trust Hawk as far as she could throw him---well, throw him in the Real World anyway. Throwing him in here might have been a different story.

The male rookie wore black pants and a blood red jacket over it. The sleeves of his jacket were cut off, frayed edges hanging in an attempt to make him look tougher. Around his middle was a black belt, the mark of a martial arts expert. Where the back of Pixie's jacket was plain- a field of white save for her braid, the back of Hawk's had the same image as the tattoo on his shoulder.

His appearance made Pixie a little more nervous but she reminded herself that his appearance was just a form of intimidation. He wanted her to be afraid of him and she wasn't going to give him the opportunity to see just how nervous he was really making her.

"Do you really think that you're going to be able to beat me, Pixie Sticks?" Hawk commented, around a very dry laugh.

"Actually I do or, at least, I'm going to try to," Pixie quipped, trying to keep a nervous quaver out of her voice, "I'm not that scared little girl from before, Hawk."

"You're serious? I can't believe that you seriously think you're going to be able to do this. Look at me and look at you. This is an uphill battle," Hawk stated, still laughing his dry laugh.

It wasn't a nice sound, not a laugh you wanted to hear. Rather than being friendly and warm, the type of laugh one wanted to hear, Hawk's laugh called to mind dried bones and old, crumbly leaves at the tail end of a Matrix fall. Old wood and lace in an attic that was full of spiders and other things that made your spine crawl.

Pixie shrugged, shaking off the crawling feeling that was running up and down her spine, and retorted, "I'm serious. I don't know what I can do but I'm not standing down."

Pixie knew this verbal sparring was all part of the game. All part of the battle she was about to start with Hawk. Whether or not she believed a word she was saying remained to be seen. It was all just posturing and posing and making boasts in order to intimidate your opponent. Pixie knew nothing she was saying was getting through to Hawk, making him nervous about facing her, but she had to try.

Hawk looked like he was about to say something else, to throw out another mock or laugh or something like that but a voice over their heads cut him off.

"You both know the rules," boomed said voice as it filtered through some unseen speaker in the room, "first one to successfully score on their opponent wins. This is hand to hand combat only, no weapons creative or otherwise."

Both combatants confirmed that they knew the rules and understood how to win this spar. Pixie wasn't entirely sure what "creative weapons" were and she was almost sure she didn't want to know. They sounded ugly and painful.

Without much warning, Hawk struck first. He threw punches, using all his force behind the blows. Every blow was aimed for some vital part of Pixie's body, trying to take her down with a minimum of muss and fuss. It was obvious he didn't want to spend a lot of time or effort on this.

Pixie leapt over Hawk, hovering in the air for a split second before coming down behind him. She waited for him to turn around, not wanting to do the dishonorable thing and attack him from behind. Even if victory was the goal, Pixie wanted to make sure it was a proper victory. Not some win that she got because she'd clocked Hawk when his back was turned or he was bent double or something.

"Where in the world did you learn how to do that?" he commented, stepping into a stance and beckoning Pixie to attack him.

That was a move he hadn't expected her to know. Sure, he'd gotten better at bending the rules of the Matrix but it wasn't a sure fire thing. He was still being met with mixed results which was why he and Cypher decided to focus more on brute strength among other things.

Besides, Hawk knew Pixie was one of those logical, science types. Breaking the hard and fast rules of science- which was what bending the rules in the Matrix essentially was- didn't seem like something Pixie would easily be able to do. If he remembered correctly, she'd been attached to those rules. Attached enough that he figured it might hamper her.

Hawk now saw he was wrong.

"From a friend," she answered, before attacking.

End over end, she tumbled falling into a succession of handsprings. She moved quickly, covering the span separating the two of them in a matter of moments. When she had gotten close enough, Pixie broke form and aimed an elbow at Hawk's head. He side stepped the blow, nearly sending Pixie to the ground.

She landed on her feet, trying not to smile. In a way, she expected him to go that route. He wanted to use his strength to counteract her speed, Pixie figured that was the key to his entire strategy.

The female rookie knew she had the key but a key alone was useless unless you had a lock to open. The lock, in this case, was some opening in Hawk's strategy. A place where Pixie could fit the key and counter the stronger attacks with something more speed based.

The two continued to spar, going back and forth trying to find and exploit some tiny weakness. Hawk had been trained well, almost as well as Pixie had. His weakness lie in the fact it appeared he only knew one way of fighting. He was only using his strength, trying to overpower the faster Pixie.

The two were at a stalemate. Neither wanted to concede defeat but, then again, neither had done anything to assert themselves as the winner. Hawk was growing dangerously desperate. He wanted to beat Pixie, to catch her as a hawk catches a rabbit. He wanted to prove to her and to the crew watching the monitors that he was faster, stronger, better than her. That he was the real warrior and hero.

Besides, he really didn't want to get beaten again by the thin and wiry girl he'd known in the Matrix. Being bested by her the first time- with that game of "Capture the Flag-" was embarrassing enough.

All around them, the room bore signs of their little fight. A column was cracked nearly in half from Hawk trying to kick Pixie through it. There were indents in the floor from Pixie and Hawk trying to land on one another.

In an almost human imitation of the room, both Pixie and Hawk looked worse for wear. Pixie's clothing was askew, her hair totally out of the braid it had been in. A large bruise was developing on her face and she knew there were several others on the rest of her body. No matter how fast she was, Hawk still managed to land a fair few blows on her body. Even the glancing ones hurt like crazy.

The only thing she was thankful for was that her wheels, so to speak, were still in good working order. Hawk hadn't been able to cripple her knees or force her to turn her ankles or anything like that. So long as she could rely on her speed, Pixie figured she had a chance.

In his desperation, Hawk came up with an idea. Reaching down, Hawk pulled a few of the slats in the floor loose and brandished them like a baseball bat. They were supposed to fight hand to hand, no weapons of any kind were to be involved, but Hawk was at wit's end. He had to find some way to put his opponent down.

He charged Pixie, cackling at the idea that something resembling a baseball bat- a baseball related item to honor Pixie's friend Wheeler- and swinging the slats with a home run swing.

Pixie saw what he was going to do and tried her best to get out of the way. She moved a fraction too slow, an effect of the fight, and only managed to catch the blow someplace else. They connected with Pixie's head, cracking hard against her right temple instead of catching her flush in the face, turning her features into a pulpy mess.

She crumpled to the ground in a heap, eyes glazing over.

Darkness began to creep into Pixie's line of sight and she felt something warm trickling down the side of her head. She tried to get up but found her muscles unwilling. Every mental command was going unheeded, leaving her stuck on the ground.

Hawk was standing over her, smirk on his face. He looked like he knew he had this victory well in hand, despite the fact he cheated to win. His mind was already whirling with a thousand ideas to get him out of trouble for breaking the rules. An excuse to make sure he won despite the fact it was in an underhanded way.

One though kept running through her addled brain, keeping the darkness from totally slipping over her. Like a marquee the words "Hawk is never ever allowed to win" kept scrolling again and again. It was the promise she had made to herself, a promise she intended to keep.

With a groan, Pixie rolled over onto her side and pushed herself up with her hands. Her arms were shaking from the effort but she kept trying to stand. It was stupid and thick headed and Pixie knew she knew better but she was still determined to stand. Giving up was not an option, not something she was willing to do.

"It's all in my head," she reminded herself, "I'm fine. This isn't real."

She knew that she was lying with herself. This was just as real as anything that happened to her out in the Real World. The mind was connected to the body---making Pixie very sure that she wasn't going be able to get up from her chair after the beating she was taking. If she could convince her facial muscles to work, she would have smiled just a bit. Hawk wasn't going to have an easy time getting up either.

Pixie got up on spaghetti legs, swaying as she did so. She set her face, not allowing Hawk to see that she was disconcerted by the blood oozing from her head and trickling down the side of her face. A quick swipe across the face with the sleeve of her jacket cleared the blood from her eyes and stained the sleeve of her jacket with a splash of crimson on the white fabric. A red badge of courage of sorts.

Hawk looked utterly shocked, his eyes growing wide and his mouth opening slightly. He hadn't expected Pixie to get back to her feet. He'd hit her with all of his strength and she'd gone down hard.

"Come on Pix," he cajoled, "Just stay down for once."

She didn't answer, her head hurt too much to actually attempt speaking. Instead, Pixie stepped into a fighting stance. She gestured for Hawk to attack her, to bring the fight to her so she wouldn't have to come to him. It looked tough but the truth was Pixie didn't know just how long she was going to stay on her feet. Right now, the only thing holding her up was a combination of sheer will and some innate stubbornness.

With an exasperated sigh, Hawk dropped the slats he had been holding and rushed the tired girl determine to put her down once and for all. She probably didn't have much left in her anyway. This was just the final stand before she fell once and for all. Her last gasp before going out, not with a blaze of glory, but with a crumple.

Pixie knew she wasn't at one hundred percent. The fact her limbs felt heavy was a good indication of that. She was going to have to rely on something other than her speed.

"Focus, Pix, relax," she reminded herself.

She recalled, somewhere in the fog surrounding her brain, that Ghost had said she could make herself more accurate if she bent the Matrix just right. She was going have to be accurate to end this fight before she lost any more blood.

It was something she understood how to do but wasn't entirely sure she could do. Not given her current state and the fact her mind wasn't sharp and she couldn't relax.

It was a gamble but it was her only hope, the only thing she could rely on to win. A chance she was willing to take if only to end this and get herself some help.

Hawk struck first, nearly taking her off her feet again. She side stepped, moving to Hawk's right and throwing a roundhouse kick. The kick only grazed Hawk---not actually knocking him down, just taking him off balance for a moment.

In that moment, Pixie struck. She aimed another kick at Hawk. The kick connected with the side of his head, knocking him clean off his feet. Pixie staggered a bit as she came down almost on top of Hawk's chest. The larger male was out cold.

She had won. A comforting though before her own world went dark.


	48. Invisible Sun

AN: Hiya everyone! Hope everyone's having as much fun as they possibly can with school starting and everything. I don't mind school but I had a very bad class on Tuesday. I had to give a presentation in front of the lecture room and, because of circumstances beyond my control; I wound up having to try to give a half hour speech in about five minutes. I got so nervous that I forgot everything I was supposed to say in relation to the data I was presenting. Of course, my professor forgot to mention that we could stay later so I'd get the full time to finish so I panicked for no good reason. As an aside, I'd like to give a big congratulations to the 2006 New York Mets for winning the National League East Championship! I already have my first round playoff tickets for early October! Anywho, I hope all of you weren't bothered by the last chapter. Hawk's a bit of a dirt bag and what he did was very, very wrong. Please, feel free to let me know what you think! I'm open to any opinion, good, bad or indifferent.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"There has to be an invisible sun  
It gives its heat to everyone  
There has to be an invisible sun  
It gives us hope when the whole days done…" (From "Invisible Sun" by Sting)

There was something very unfair about the little bet Trinity and Cypher had made. Something that had little to do with the forced fight between Pixie and Hawk and more to do with the reward for the fight. Sure, Pixie, being the victor, earned some measure of respect for not only defeating Hawk but for being able to overcome the fact he cheated during the spar. He'd taken up arms- makeshift arms but arms nonetheless- and broken the rules of their fight.

Using arms was something that was a given in the Matrix but it went against the rules that had been set up in their little battle. Cheating in that way was looked down upon, in a strange way. It was considered dishonorable to do that in a formal spar.

As per the rules, Cypher had to take all of Trinity's late night watches of the Matrix. Despite the fact Cypher gave Pixie the creeps- He reminded her of a used car salesman from the Matrix only ten times worse- he'd done the honorable thing and lived up to his word. He'd, grudgingly, taken Trinity's late night shifts.

Still, there was just one problem with the entire set up.

Trinity might have been able to sleep in but the young female that she'd trained wasn't so lucky. Pixie still had to go about her normal duties. More than a little beat up or not; she was still required to take her own late night watches. Strangely, that fact didn't bother Pixie as much as she thought it should have. It would have been nice to get a full night's sleep but Pixie was more than willing to do her job. Though it sounded odd, she liked working.

The bet had helped her in a way that she considered more rewarding than any days off from work. The training that had lead up to the fight had provided her with a valuable education in the martial arts. Pixie was well aware of the fact that her skills in that area were sorely lacking since fighting was not something she, normally, might do. The training gave taught her how to not only go on the offensive but, more importantly, how to go on the defensive. If she knew how to keep herself from getting hurt, Pixie figured she could use speed to get herself out of the situation.

There was that fact and the fact she'd picked up on several different acrobatic tricks during her training with Trinity and the others. The tricks might not have had any real use in the Matrix but they made her laugh. Plus, Pixie noticed that they made her more flexible in the Real World.

Flexibility wasn't the skill in question at the moment, though, as Pixie sat in the Operator's chair in the Core of the _Nebuchadnezzar_. Several hours earlier- At least it seemed that way to Pixie- she'd woken from a light sleep and relieved Mouse. The programmer, who was far nicer to Pixie than Hawk was always trying to make conversation with her even when she was trying to work, looked like he was about to fall asleep when Pixie came up behind him and, gently, tapped him on the shoulder.

Mouse jumped ten feet in the air, startled by Pixie, but gave her a smile of thanks as he vacated the Core and left her sitting in the lonely seat. The bank of monitors around her flashed the symbolic rain that represented the Matrix. It didn't take very much mental effort for Pixie to turn those symbols into images in her mind but there was nothing to be seen at the moment. The screens flashed images of people at work or at play. One showed someone working half asleep in front of their computer, apparently, trying to finish some sort of paper for a class.

That image had made Pixie laugh slightly. She remembered hearing stories, when she was in the Matrix, of people working all night on some paper or cramming for an exam. People in the Matrix and, to a lesser extent, in Zion, might have called her obsessive but she liked to have her work done a few days before it was due in to the teacher. Never once had she ever had to pull an "all-nighter" for a project or an exam.

Pixie shivered slightly, wrapping her sweater a bit tighter around her. The Core seemed slightly colder than the rest of the ship. She wasn't sure if it was because of the computers in the room or it was kept cooler in order to keep people on late watches awake. She was hoping it was the former more than the latter. If it was the latter, then, that was just horrible on Morpheus' part.

A buzzing sound from someplace on her right side made Pixie jump a little. Up until that moment, the only sound in the room had been the quiet hum the computers and the ship's engines made. The sound had been lulling Pixie into a reverie but the chill in the air was keeping her from zoning out entirely.

Once she got her heart to stop pounding- the sound really had caught her off guard- Pixie jammed the Operator's headset on her head. In order to get it to stay on comfortable, she pushed some of her hair behind her ears. Prior to that moment, she'd left it hanging loose around her shoulders. Though her long hair wasn't practical, it did have one…unexpected….benefit. It could be used as a makeshift blanket of sorts for her shoulders and back. Pixie noticed that when she was forced to pull her hair all the way up and off of her neck, her neck got very cold.

Pressing a few buttons, one of the screens changed from the ever present of the Matrix code to the image of another ship's Core. Even in the grainy black and white and shades of gray, Pixie could see that the other Core was smaller than the one she was sitting in. The room looked a bit more cramped than her ship's Core. Almost on top of the Operator's station was one of the chairs used to jack into the Matrix. There couldn't have been more than three or four inches separating the two objects.

A few moments of silence passed as the channel between the two ships remained open. Pixie wasn't sure if she should say anything but figured the silence might have meant the link was opened by accident. Informing the other ship of the mistake seemed to be the proper thing to do.

"_Nebuchadnezzar_ here, is there anything I can do to help you?" Pixie asked, keeping her voice as polite and professional sounding as possible.

"_Nebuchadnezzar_?" came a familiar male voice on the other end of the connection, "To whom am I speaking?"

Unless Pixie was badly mistaken, she was almost sure she knew who she was speaking to. The voice was very familiar to her but the question being posed was throwing her. If it was the person she was thinking it was then why would he ask who he was speaking to? Unless he'd forgotten her in the time they were apart. Pixie hoped that wasn't the case because she'd thought they were better friends than that. Her even using the word "friend" meant that they were they type of friends who wouldn't forget each other after short periods of time.

"Pixie," she replied, her voice sounding a bit confused, "to whom am I speaking?"

She figured that if this was some sort of game, it wouldn't hurt to play along. If it wasn't a game, well, then asking who she was talking to was the proper thing to do. It was like Matrix phone etiquette. If you didn't know who was calling, you asked for a name and gave your own.

"Pixie? Pix? Is that you?" the voice asked, starting to sound a bit excited.

As the person spoke, a very familiar image filled the screen as if the person decided to have a seat down in front of it. Pixie laughed, covering her mouth with her hand as a very harried looking Wheeler took his seat. Though the image was in black and white and just like the images showing the falling Matrix code, it didn't take Pixie very much to fill in the colors she associated with Wheeler. There was dirty blond for his hair and bright hazel for his eyes. As for what clothing she could see, Pixie figured it was faded gray or blue like her own clothing.

"It is you!" he exclaimed, "Boy am I glad it's you and not someone else!"

Seeing Wheeler always brought a smile to Pixie's face. Though she enjoyed her job immensely, she really did miss her friends in the worst way. Strangely enough, she seemed to miss Wheeler most of all. Pixie tried not to dwell on exactly why she missed Wheeler more than Aisling, Adoh, and Ngaio. She preferred the simple reasoning that stated she missed him because they were friends before coming out of the Matrix. They had a connection in that way and, thus, the basis of their friendship.

"I'm happy to see you too, Wheeler," Pixie admitted, "It seems like I haven't talked to you in ages."

"It does seem that way, Pix," Wheeler concurred, "I guess you and I haven't been on the same broadcast depth since the last time you and I talked. That was over a month ago."

"Feels longer," the female commented, keeping her eyes on the screens around her.

Though she was talking to her friend, Pixie knew she couldn't slack off on her job. There were other people depending on her and telling them that they were going to be killed by Squiddies she hadn't noticed because she was talking to a good friend from Zion seemed like a rather lame excuse.

"Yeah it does. So, what have you been up to? Get to go into the Matrix yet?" he asked, in a very friendly tone.

Pixie recalled that the last time they'd talked; she'd mentioned that she hadn't gone into the Matrix yet. Her training both in the medical field and in martial arts had taken president over going into the Matrix.

"Nah…I haven't gone into the Matrix yet," she started but found that the rest of her answer had been left in her throat.

"Pixie, what happened to your face?" Wheeler wanted to know.

His tone was a strange combination of things. On the one hand, he sounded rather surprised that he hadn't noticed what was wrong with Pixie sooner. After all, it was pretty hard to miss even in black and white that something wasn't quite right with Pixie's appearance. On the other hand, though, Wheeler sounded angry. Not that sort of angry where one wanted lash out at something. No, rather this was the type of angry someone sounded when something or someone they cared a great deal about was hurt.

The tone seemed to surprise Wheeler too. Pixie could see his face take on a curious expression as if he was trying to figure out just where that mix of sounds came from. It seemed to be an unfamiliar tone of voice for him to hear as well.

Pixie gave a rueful sort of laugh, rubbing her face with her hands in an attempt to hide the blush that was spreading across it. Her face- well, her entire body really but all Wheeler could see was her face- had a few very distinct black and blues on it. There was one very large one on the left side while a strangely shaped bruise seemed to go from the right side of her head down her cheek. That one hurt more than the one on the right side of her face since it was not only made with a weapon- albeit a virtual one- but it was right against the zygomatic bone just below her right eye.

With a sigh, Pixie told Wheeler the condensed version of the story. She'd tell him the whole story if they ever happened to be in Zion at the same time but, for now, she knew the Cliffsnotes version of the story would suffice. Pixie made sure not to leave out all the major points from the nature of the bet to training with Ghost and Chian to the fight, itself. Though she was trying to be brief, she couldn't help but give Wheeler a blow by blow of the fight as she remembered it. The ending was a bit sketchy since she'd been a bit out of it due to Hawk's actions.

"Well, even though he cheated and used a weapon I still managed to get back to my feet and get him down," Pixie finished, "It's silly but, do you remember what I said that day when Hawk embarrassed the bunch of us in the Academy? You know how I said he'd never get to win? I remembered saying that and that was what, kinda, gave me the boost to keep going."

Wheeler didn't know if he wanted to be proud of Pixie- He, honestly, didn't think she had that in her since she'd always been such a quiet and shy sort of person. Then again, there was that whole Matrix saying "Tis the quiet ones you have to watch out for."- or angry with Hawk. The scruffy blond male settled for a middle between the two of them. At least, he was going to try for a middle anyway.

There was part of him that was very angry with Hawk for doing such a horrible thing to his friend. He'd been taught by his family in the Matrix, especially his father that he had to respect women. That little lesson was proving to be problematic as he was pulling punches when he sparred the females on his own crew. One of them had taken that as an insult- That he didn't think she was strong enough to be able to handle his blows- and had taken her frustrations with him out on him.

"That's amazing Pixie!" Wheeler stated, genuinely proud of her despite his anger with Hawk, "I'm really glad you've finally taught Hawk the lesson we all know he needed to learn. Now, maybe, he'll leave you alone."

"Somehow I doubt that. He's already talking about how my winning was a fluke and he could beat me any day of the week," Pixie admitted, frowning slightly.

The frown she was wearing was mirrored on Wheeler's face. It didn't seem right to Wheeler that Hawk would demean Pixie's hard fought victory with words like that. Then again, it didn't seem right to him and Hawk's mindset was very different from his own. That was probably why Hawk had always tried to goad Wheeler into a battle of more than just wits.

"Well, I don't think it was a fluke. You're a whole lot tougher than any of us give you credit for and I do remember you saying that stuff about Hawk not ever getting to win. I'm glad he didn't get to win this round," Wheeler stated, feel like he should bolster Pixie's confidence in herself for some strange reason.

Shaking his head, sending his scruffy hair in disarray, Wheeler added, "It doesn't mean I'm happy with what he did to you. You could have gotten seriously hurt. Did he get in any trouble for cheating like that?"

"He got an earful from not only Captain Morpheus but from Trinity as well. They didn't take too kindly to him taking things as far as he did," Pixie answered, "There wasn't much else they could to him other than give him extra tasks to do around the ship but they never get done anyway. He slacks off a lot of the time."

"Which leaves more work for the rest of you. I don't know what he's doing on a ship. It doesn't seem like he's much of a team player," Wheeler quipped.

"He says that he works on the ship because he's some kind of hero. I don't know what he's talking about, really," Pixie sighed, putting her head, carefully, in her hands.

"Speaking of heroes, I should probably give you the message that Captain Mace told me to give to whoever was on watch on your ship," Wheeler stated, suddenly remembering the reason he'd contacted the ship Pixie worked on.

It was just dumb luck that he'd wound up catching Pixie during her shift on watch. His call hadn't really meant to be a social one; it just turned out that way because of Pixie. Not that he was complaining, mind you. Talking to Pixie was something he enjoyed doing. Though she was quiet and shy to anyone that she'd just met, once you got to know her, in Wheeler's opinion, she was one of the nicest people anyone could ever hope to meet. She never failed to make him smile.

"Well, I'll make sure Captain Morpheus gets the message from your Captain Mace," Pixie laughed, preparing herself to remember the message.

Wheeler cocked his head to one side, looking at something in the upper left hand corner of the screen. His tongue peeked out of his mouth, as he tried to remember something.

"I'm supposed to tell you tell your captain that she's waiting for him. Captain Mace didn't tell me who 'she' was but he said your captain would understand what that meant," Wheeler told Pixie.

"I'm not sure what that means either but I'll make sure to tell Captain Morpheus," Pixie said with a nod of her head, "and I bet your captain's right. It'll make perfect sense to him."

"I think I'd better get going," Wheeler said, looking over his shoulder, "Elan is set to come on shift after me and I don't want him talking to you."

"Why don't you want him talking to me?" Pixie, curiously, asked.

"Because Elan has a twisted sense of humor," Wheeler answered with a shake of his head, "The things he says aren't fit for a lady's ears."

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me," the young female commented a small giggle, "Maybe the next time we're both in Zion we can hang out. I miss talking to you…and the others too…all the time like we use to do."

"Yeah….I miss that too, Pix," Wheeler started, "I'm going to get going. Stay safe, Pix."

"You too, Wheeler. Stay safe," Pixie blurted before the screen went back to showing the normal Matrix code.

Making sure to remember Wheeler's message, Pixie went back to her staring. She couldn't help the smile that was sitting on her face as she monitored the screens around her. Though she'd only had Hawk as a friend of sorts in the Matrix, having friends like Wheeler and the others made her realize that it wasn't so bad to have friends at all. They always made you smile.

Especially friends like Wheeler.


	49. Cosy in the Rocket

AN: Hey everyone! Well, October's here and it's time for two things. One is something I'm usually excited about and the other is, well, something I usually see as an annoyance since all it does is get in the way of one of my favorite TV shows. The first is, of course, Halloween! I like decorating the house for Halloween and this year I'm doing a haunted pirate theme for the front windows of the house I live in. Sort of like Pirates of the Caribbean but not quite since it won't have anything to do with the movie or the characters in it. The other October events are the playoff games before the baseball World Series. Usually, because my NY Mets aren't playing, the playoffs aren't exactly exciting. This year, though, since the Mets are in the playoffs, things are a bit more interesting. Actually, I'm going to Game 1 at Shea Stadium (home of the New York Mets) and, even though I'm sitting in the nosebleeds, it still should be a good time. Anywho, I think this story should be coming to a close sooner rather than later. Don't worry, though, I'm 99.99 sure there's a sequel for this story. Thanks for all the reviews for my little misadventure! I really do appreciate them.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Nobody knows where they might end up  
Nobody knows  
Nobody knows where they might wake up  
Nobody knows  
Nobody knows where they might end up  
Nobody knows  
Nobody knows where they might wake up  
Nobody knows…" (From "Cosy in the Rocket" by Psapp)

Mouse yawned widely, looking more like a reptile that his vermin namesake, and spooned of what the others on the ship creatively called food into his mouth. Sleep was the last thing on his mind at the moment. There were several things on his mind- including a project he'd been asked to start- driving sleep from it. That said, he was awake and having a very early breakfast.

Though it seemed like something that should bother him, the single celled protein everyone on the ship ate didn't faze him in the least. As a matter of fact, it reminded him of the oatmeal his mother use to make him before he went to school in the Matrix.

"What's going on, Pix?" he asked, watching as the ship's still healing medical trainee wander into the room blearily rubbing her eyes., "Can't sleep either?"

With her threadbare blanket wrapped around her shoulders, partly pulled over her head like a cloak, Pixie gave Mouse a tired smile. The bruises on her body and face were starting to fade and the pounding in her head was nearly gone. She was starting to look more and more like her usual self instead of the beat up look Hawk had given her.

Still some of the bruises on her body- the deep ones that were on her bones- were bothering her and the persistent cold on the ship wasn't helping any either. She'd taken to wearing another sweater over what she deemed her "pajama" sweater just to try and stave off the cold.

"Nah, I'm just not tired anymore. I was ever one for sleeping anyway," Pixie answered with a shrug.

She walked over to the tap, trying not to frown as the machine gave her a serving of what passed for food. Pixie liked her job quite a bit but she did miss being able to eat solid food. The medic tried not to think about how much what she had in her dish reminded her of mashed brains or worse.

Mouse smiled slightly at her response and waved as another figure entered the mess hall. Much to Pixie's chagrin, Hawk had entered the room just after her.

The two of them were being oddly formal with one another since her victory over him in their challenge. He hadn't issued any return challenges but Pixie wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. It made her very nervous; actually, as some small part of her was convinced the other boy had something else planed. Knowing Hawk, it had to be something very bad.

The last third of the rookie trio sat down across from Mouse and Pixie. Silenced reigned in the room as Mouse continued his eating and Pixie poked at her food. She wasn't entirely sure she was hungry but Pixie knew she had to eat something. Being elbow deep in some machine she was repairing and hungry was not something she relished.

Still it was hard to eat when one wasn't exactly hungry and uncomfortable under Hawk's probing gaze.

"So," Mouse started, breaking the uncomfortable silence in the room, "What's everyone been up to?"

Without waiting for their answers, Mouse launched into an explanation of the new Agent Training program he had been asked to create. Pixie had heard about Mouse's latest task from someone else on the ship. She hadn't heard of any of the specifics of the project but it seemed to make both Mouse and Hawk very happy.

That was reason enough to make Pixie nervous. She could think of only a few things that might make both rookie males happy.

Still wearing a leering smile- The smile more of a result of Mouse's description of his new project.- Hawk began explaining how he'd been asked to do some "very sensitive" repair work on the hull of the ship. According to his own words, he was given the job because he was the most skilled person on the ship.

That fact, Pixie knew, was not true. If anything, the three of them were still learning the ropes, as it was, on the ship. They weren't exactly extraordinarily skilled at anything. The exception to that might have been Mouse who was known for his programming skills.

Pixie, herself, had been kept busy, mostly with repairs and mild injuries. If she wasn't stuck between two tight pieces of machinery in the bowels of the large ship, she was in the medical bay working with Dozer either on more repair work- since the machines in the medical bay always seemed to need tuning up- or helping him treat small, nagging injuries.

"Does anyone know what has the rest of the crew all excited?" Mouse questioned, changing the subject all of a sudden.

The fact the rest of the ship's crew was excited was enough to make Mouse excited. Any number of things could be happening- from freeing a new mind to getting into the Matrix- and Mouse was ready for any of them. Ready in theory anyway, maybe not in practice.

"Maybe we're going back to Zion," Hawk answered, hopefully, "there are a few girls who'd like to get to know the Hawkster, if you catch my drift."

Mouse laughed, getting Hawk's joke, and Pixie felt a blush creep into her cheeks. Anything that might be remotely considered off colored could make Pixie blush. Not exactly her best quality but it still happened no matter how much she tried to hide it.

"I don't think we're going to Zion," Pixie said, interrupting Hawk's running tally of how many girlfriends he had had in Zion, "even though I wouldn't mind going back home either. I haven't seen my friends in a long time and I miss them."

"What makes you think that?" Hawk retorted, throwing Pixie an angry look.

"Well, I heard Morpheus talking about checking out some older broadcast positions that haven't been used in a while," Pixie countered, ignoring Hawk's glare by staring at the worn tabletop before her, "I think someone's going into the Matrix soon."

"I think you're confused," Hawk commented, "Back me up here, Mouse."

"Actually, I think Pixie might be right. I heard Trinity talking to Morpheus about it the other day," Mouse added, confirming what Pixie had said.

Hawk's frown deepened for a moment. He, like Pixie and, most likely, Mouse, hadn't been in the Matrix since their respective freeings. Part of him was curious about what had changed in the false reality since he'd last been in it.

Uncomfortable silence partially forgotten, their conversation turned to what they missed most in the Matrix. Pixie had little to say on the topic. The Matrix didn't hold very many good memories for her and, thus, there was very little she missed.

If anything, the only thing she missed was being able to see the sun and the sky. From what she'd heard, there was no sun on the surface now and the sky had been turned black. A far cry from the blue sky she use to be able see from the window in her room back in the Matrix.

A creak of the door that separated the mess hall from the rest of the ship made the trio of rookies stop speaking. Three sets of eyes turned to see who had interrupted their conversation.

"What's going on sir?" Hawk spoke, his tone far more casual than it had any right to be considering who he was speaking to.

"Finish your meals and then come to the Core," Morpheus informed the three young people, his voice brooking no complaints.

He was giving an order and they weren't to question him. It was a tone Pixie rarely ever heard the captain use. He did give orders, true, but they seemed more like suggestions to her. Strong suggestions to be sure but they weren't true orders either. There was a fine contrast between the two and Pixie figured Morpheus managed to make that contrast clear.

"Why?" Hawk wanted to know, "Maybe I had other plans today."

Morpheus gave Hawk a look that made Pixie look down at the table and feel like she'd been reprimanded. The reaction wasn't the same for Hawk who was still, boldly, staring at the dark skinned captain. He, apparently, missed the warning in the captain's dark eyed glare.

"We'll be broadcasting soon so I would appreciate it if you hurried. Our window is finite and I'd rather not waste it," Morpheus answered, not really answering Hawk's question.

He nodded at Mouse and Pixie, who were eating at a more rapid pace, and threw another look at Hawk before leaving the room. The door closed behind him with the creak of rusting metal. Pixie wouldn't have faulted Morpheus if he'd slammed the door in frustration.

"Broadcasting?" Hawk asked, not sure what was going on, "What's he going on about now? I agree with Cypher, Morpheus is nuts."

Mouse threw a dirty look in Hawk's direction. The programmer had been waiting to hear those words for a very long time. Since he'd come onto the ship, as a matter of fact.

"He's taking us into the Matrix," Mouse half said, half exclaimed, "Finally!"

"I wonder, why though," Pixie commented, speaking softly, "we're not scouting for new potentials or making a drop or anything like that. Taking a random trip into the Matrix doesn't seem very safe either what with the Agents and all."

Since passing her three tests, Pixie had been considering her options when it came to entering the Matrix. She wanted to go in only if to see what it was like, to see if the opening of her eyes to the real "Real World" would change how she saw things in the matrix, and to test out her skills.

The latter, though, was very optional. Pixie had already decided she wanted nothing to do with Agents or anything like them. Better to behave like a virtual ghost in the machine and go into and out of the Matrix without being detected. Pixie wasn't entirely sure that was possible but she figured she could hope.

Whenever she though about going back into the Matrix, though, the "whatifs" came to play in her head. What if she saw someone she use to know? What if that person still recognized her and wanted to know where she was or why she wasn't dead? The latter question seemed the less likely of the two. She looked radically different now, no longer being sickly. Plus, Pixie fancied she'd grown up some since leaving the Matrix. The differences between her at fifteen and her now were small but still there.

No matter what fears and misgivings she had about going back to the Matrix, Pixie wasn't one to buck an order and she was curious. A dangerous combination to say the least as she shoveled the last of her vile looking food in her mouth, washing it down with some tepid water from the tap. Both she and Mouse seemed to be in a race to see who would finish first.

The race continued as they made their way to the Core, each trying to out outstrip the other. Hawk, for his part, sauntered behind the pair, taking his sweet time. Pixie wasn't sure that was the brightest thing for him to be doing but she wasn't going to say anything to him. It was his problem if he wanted to get into trouble.

The Core seemed to be busier than normal, in Pixie's opinion, as everyone prepared to jack into the Matrix. She'd only managed to get into the room seconds before Mouse and that was only because she'd shimmied in front of him to gain access to the ladder first. Being slight had its benefits in strange ways, sometimes.

"Sir, where are we going?" Pixie asked, as she was pointed to one of the few unoccupied chairs in the room.

The question had, sort of, slipped out. Pixie hadn't meant to ask it aloud and that fact was plain as day on her sheepish looking face. She figured that her curiosity would be assuaged sooner or later so asking was a moot point. Still, the question had slipped out.

"He's taking you to see the Oracle," Cypher blurted, "Got to make sure none of them are the big, bad One, right, captain?"

Pixie looked to her captain for an affirmation on that fact. She, like anyone who lived in Zion, heard of the Oracle. Torrent had mentioned her once or twice, never giving any details in front of her or Eli. Chian, too, had gone to see her but that conversation ended quickly. She hadn't been keen on talking about anything related to the Oracle either.

"Yes Pixie, we're going to see the Oracle. It's time for you and the others to see her," Morpheus confirmed, before turning back to setting up his own equipment.

Pixie gave a small shrug, not really sure what to make of the information either way. She wasn't sure why Torrent and Chian hadn't been keen on speaking about the Oracle but she figured she was about to learn why.


	50. Super Bonbon

AN: Hiya everyone! I'm very sad to say that the New York Mets will not be going to the World Series this year. They lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Seven of the National League Division Series. Just to make their loss _that_ much worse, they lost with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning with Carlos Beltran (our All Star Centerfielder who'd, up until that point, had been eating Cardinal pitching for breakfast) up at the plate. He just had to strike out to end our World Series dreams! Ah well….as the old saying goes "We'll get'em next year." As for the delay on this chapter, I'm afraid it had less to do with post-season baseball and more to do with Midterms. I just had my Midterm for my Genomics and the Human Race class. The test was open book/notebook/whatever else you wanted to bring in but, I'm convinced, my professor made it harder because she allowed us out books. Anywho, thanks for all the reviews for this little misadventure. The ride, for this part anyway, is coming to a close relatively soon but I promise there's more to the story! Stay tuned and please keep reviewing. I'm always open to advice or criticisms!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Some kind of moving thing.  
Something unseen.  
Some hand is motioning  
to rise, to rise, to rise…" (from "Super Bonbon" by Soul Coughing)

Going into the Matrix was something Pixie had half been looking forward to and half dreading. She knew it was going to be nothing like going into the Construct to a certain degree- The danger factor in the Matrix was much higher than what it was in the Construct for all intents and purposes- but she knew there were going to be certain similarities.

Case in point….she was dressed in what someone had started, jokingly, referring to as her "spandex ninja" outfit. It was an outfit coming to almost every training program, save the Dojo. There she usually donned her white on white karate outfit, despite the fact Mouse and Hawk both seemed to have black belts now.

The outfit she was wearing- A high collared black bodysuit under a flat black unitard that zippered up the front and flared out at the ankles. On her feet she wore light weight boots and, over everything, she wore a short leather jacket- stood in sharp contrast to her surroundings. Truth be told, the clothing of everyone in the room stood in contrast to their surroundings.

Everyone was clad in blacks and grays of various shades, save Switch. Much to Pixie's confusion, she was wearing white. For some reason, the medic-in-training felt that wearing white was like painting a huge target on one's chest. White wasn't exactly a color conductive to hiding. Pixie, of course, had no plans on saying anything. She'd keep her thoughts to herself lest saying it get her beaten silly in a training program.

The lot of them stood in what had once been some sort of factory. Old, rusting machines hung from the ceiling like the giant claws of so many boiled crabs. It would have been amusing if not for the fact that the claws were more menacing than friendly looking. They were bent at angles that might have been considered threatening.

Leaving Switch, Apoc, and Cypher behind to guard the exit- an old rotary phone that sat in a spider web infested office- Pixie followed Morpheus, Trinity and her fellow rookies out of the factory. The boots everyone appeared to be wearing made a muffled sound against the dirty floor as they left ghostly looking prints in the layers of dust and grime that covered the ground. Pixie could hardly tell what color the floor had once been, so covered was it in years worth of dirt and grime. It was plain to see that no one had been in the factory in a very long time.

The sun burned Pixie's eyes something fierce, making her glad for the sunglasses that were conveniently stowed in a pocket of her leather jacket. This was the first time since her freeing that she'd seen the once familiar sun and blue sky of the Matrix. Part of her missed it since there was no sun or sky in her world.

Her world had views of gray metal and brown stone. As the story went, the sun and sky of her world had been destroyed in a vain attempt to stop the machines from taking over the world. Fat lot of good it did them since the machines still won that war.

Sitting in the vacant and rubbish strewn factory parking lot was something about as out of place as their clothing. There was an obviously new black car of some type- Though she knew how to drive thanks to a few programs Tank had downloaded into her eager mind; Pixie didn't know much else about cars. - waiting for them in said parking lot. Even with her lack of knowledge about car makes and models, Pixie had a funny feeling this car was both brand new and very expensive.

"Whoa! That's some car," Hawk exclaimed, shading his eyes with one long fingered hand, "is that our car?"

"It is, indeed, Hawk," Morpheus replied, not bothering to turn his head to face the young man.

"Looks like Pixie's going to have to take the hump seat," Hawk commented as Morpheus opened the driver's side door for Trinity, "Mouse and I'll just have to sit on either side of her."

Mouse, opening one of doors that lead to the back seat of the car, peered inside and pointed out, "There's plenty of room back there. Any of us could sit in that middle seat."

Hawk leaned around Mouse and, petulantly, stated, "Yeah but her legs are shorter and it's an unwritten rule of cars that the one with the shortest legs has to take the middle seat."

Pixie was really trying not to listen to Hawk's banter. She was too busy staring around at the false world through black tinted lenses anyway to listen. The young woman could hardly believe this world was the fake world she knew it to be. It still looked and felt completely real to her.

Wasn't that the mean trick being played on humanity, though? It felt real but it wasn't.

"Maybe we should ask Pixie if she wants to sit in the middle," Mouse suggested.

"Mouse," Morpheus stated, stopping the squabbling over seating arrangements, "you take the middle seat. Pixie can sit on which ever end she wants."

Mouse didn't complain, just nodding his head that he understood what he was supposed to do. Pixie gave him what amounted to a thankful smile as she slipped into the back seat behind the driver's seat. She hadn't, really, wanted to sit next to Hawk. She'd sat next to him once or twice in cars during their Matrix days and the experience wasn't exactly enjoyable, to say the least. Hawk had the very annoying habit of tormenting- By tormenting, Pixie meant poking and prodding- the people sitting around him once he got bored.

With everyone, finally, piled into the car, they set off for wherever the Oracle was located. Pixie's imagination was running a thousand miles an hour as she tried to figure out just what the Oracle's home might look like. For some reason she kept thinking of the ancient Greek temples with their white columns and large statues that might be considered creepy at night.

That image, certainly, didn't fit it with their surroundings. Weaving through traffic like some sort of serpentine creature, the black car passed through the heart of a bustling city. The streets were lined with shops selling a wide variety of goods and fast food restaurants from every chain under the sun. People jostled each other along the narrow sidewalks, bunking into each other as the speedy walkers encountered the lazy strollers.

There'd be no great ancient Greek temple in this place. It would stand out too much and Pixie figured that if the Oracle was part of their rebellion against the machines, she probably adhered to the same rules they obeyed. The sort of rules that dictated hiding in plain sight, moving against the machines but not letting them get wind of that fact.

Much to Pixie's surprise, the black car pulled up in front of a dirty looking apartment building. Many of the windows were scratched or grimy looking and the bricks on the lower levels were spray painted with a multitude of colors and in many designs.

Pixie slipped out of the car and looked up. The brown bricked building they were parked in front of seemed to extend far beyond what her eyes could see. Peering to the left and right, Pixie noticed that all the buildings in the area bore an almost clone like resemblance with each other. All were made of brown bricks and covered in graffiti.

Being a city girl during her time in the Matrix, Pixie recalled that this building was part of something called a housing development. These buildings weren't unlike the ones that surrounded the group home she'd lived in. Many of her schoolmates, when she could go to school, called buildings such as the ones that rose up before her home.

Like a dutiful child, Pixie followed Morpheus into said building. Hawk and Mouse followed close behind, the latter looking around with wide eyes. The former, well, he didn't exactly seem bothered by the building in the least.

The lobby was a testament to how far the building had gone into decay. The walls were sprayed with multicolored graffiti and several of the plastic chairs had been ripped from their locations on the walls. The few that were still attached were cracked and broken or covered in still more graffiti. The corners and most of the floor was covered with litter of all kinds despite the fact there were several garbage pails in the space. Most of them, though, were lying on their sides, their contents spilling out and onto the ground like some sort of strange vomit.

She followed Morpheus onto an elevator that smelled like stale urine and fried food. Wrinkling up her nose, trying her best to ignore the rancid odor and not be forced to hold her nose, the young woman watched as the captain pushed a button for one of the higher floors of the building.

As the elevator started it's painfully slow ascent, a small frown crossed Pixie's face. The four of them were going to be on this elevator for quite some time. She just hoped that it wasn't going to stop on any other floor so people could ride along with them. Pixie doubted there'd be room enough for very many more individuals anyway.

"So what's the deal with this Oracle person? She going to read our minds and tell us our future or something?" Hawk asked, looking none too pleased with his surroundings.

He had the sleeve of his leather jacket in front of his nose, trying to keep the smell out. It was a losing battle as the stench permeated everything, no matter what one used to block it out.

"The Oracle has been with the resistance for a very long time. There will be no reading of minds. Just be wary and do not take her words as being right or wrong. She is, in a way, a guide," Morpheus intoned, speaking in riddles and confusing the trio following him.

"You know," Hawk spat, "you could try not to speak in riddles. This whole riddle thing is getting kind of old. Right, guys?"

Mouse pretended not to hear Hawk, turning his attention to the lettering scratched into the metallic elevator walls. Pixie, simply, shook her head. The riddles could be annoying at time but she didn't really mind them. Then again, she liked thinking so she might have been a bit biased.

Getting off after what seemed like an age, Pixie followed Morpheus to a green door. One large fist came up to knock on the door.

Before it could make contact, though, the door opened just a crack. An eye stared out from the space, taking in the quartet standing there. The door was quickly shut and Pixie recognized the sound of multiple locks being undone. Whoever lived in the apartment understood the dangers of their neighborhood and was taking steps to prevent something bad from happening to them.

The door opened to reveal a dark skinned woman with curly hair. She looked from Mouse to Pixie to Hawk and, finally, to Morpheus and gave them all a rather friendly looking smile. Pixie wasn't sure who this person was, whether she was the Oracle or not, but it wasn't what the young woman was expecting.

At the very least, part of her was expecting white togas and wreaths of laurel or olive leaves. Something to signify that this was where the Oracle lived. Something that harkened back to the ancient Greeks and their Oracle at Delphi.

"Morpheus, it is a pleasure to see you. Come in, you are expected," she said in a kindly voice as she ushered the quartet into the apartment.

Morpheus sat on a bench in the front hallway without any preamble, taking off his sunglasses and unbuttoning some of his coat. The three young people stood looking around and at each other, all unsure of what to do.

If the appearance of the woman at the door baffled Pixie because of her lack of toga or other traditionally Greek trappings like that, the appearance of the apartment was even more confusing. Pixie was expecting something Grecian in design but what she saw in the small space they were standing in was far from that. It looked like whoever decorated the apartment hadn't changed a thing since, perhaps, the sixties.

"She will see Hawk first. Mouse can wait with the children," the curly haired woman said, leading the two young men away.

Morpheus said nothing to the woman, his silence being taken as an affirmative answer. Pixie was left standing in the small room, looking about. She hadn't been given a specific order so she wasn't exactly sure what to do.

For lack of anything better to do, Pixie sat down next to Morpheus. She was trying not to look nervous, trying not to show how she was feeling inside. Morpheus seemed to be staring up at the ceiling, paying no attention to what was going on around him. In truth, he was watching the young woman sitting next to her. He was curious to see how she would react when placed in an unknown environment in a situation she did not understand without any specific orders to follow.

If there was anything Morpheus could say for Pixie- other than the fact she was eager to learn things- was that she was very good at following orders. More often than not, she followed them to the letter but Pixie did improvise when need be. Pixie's taking a seat and trying not to look nervous was expected. Morpheus figured she wasn't the type to go wandering through the rest of the apartment to see what was happening to her fellow rookies.

The pair sat in silence, just the clicking of the hallway clock making any noise and marking just how long it was. Pixie wasn't bored- She rarely ever got bored as she counted thinking as one of her hobbies- but the waiting was making her tense. It was making her more nervous and it was getting harder and harder not to show that fact to her captain. As it was, Pixie had started playing with her hands in a vague attempt to release some of her nervous energy.

It seemed like an age or so had passed before Hawk, escorted by the same curly haired woman Pixie had seen earlier, was brought back to the hallway. He seemed to be munching on something that looked vaguely like homemade chocolate. A fleeting thought ran through the medic's mind, brining a slightly nervous smile to her face.

The chocolate Hawk appeared to be eating with relish was not real. It was just the computers telling him that the chocolate he was eating was real. She wondered if he would feel full when they returned to their ship because he was eating something.

Pixie figured she could ask later when they got back home.

"Come, you can sit with the children while you wait to speak with the Oracle," the curly haired woman informed Pixie, breaking the medic-in-training out of her reverence.

Pixie followed the woman to an old fashioned looking living room. Old fashioned in the fact that is seemed to match the rest of the apartment. A small TV sat in one corner playing Disney's animated version of "Alice in Wonderland" and nearly all the furniture was covered with plastic. The only word Pixie could think of to describe the room's overall appearance was "retro."

Around the room, incongruous with its décor in a way, sat children of various ages and races. Two of the older looking ones in the room were reading books in what Pixie could only assume was their native languages. The covers and spines were in a language Pixie couldn't readily identify. Two were playing checkers, the black and red pieces hovering above the board. Three smaller children were parked in front of the television, transfixed by the images flickering on the screen. One of the children- a little boy with bright green eyes that seemed a bit too large for his head- was surrounded with a pale light that flickered in time with the images on the screen.

"You're scared," said a small voice from near Pixie's elbows, "it's alright to be scared. Everyone is scared when they meet her."

Pixie looked down to a small child standing at her side. The little girl was clad in a long white nightgown, making her nearly white hair and very pale skin seem all the whiter. She looked like a small ghost, standing next to the black clad Pixie. It was only because Pixie couldn't see through her that the young woman figured the pale child was real.

Kneeling down to the child's level as not to scare her or anything, Pixie asked, "How do you know I'm scared?"

Pixie had always hated when adults talked down to her. It came from a Matrix lifetime of doctors standing over her and speaking to her as if she wasn't intelligent. They had looked down their noses at her because she was a kid. Pixie didn't want to make the little ghostly girl feel the same way so she kneeled down so the two of them could speak eye to eye.

"I feel it in here," the little girl replied, pointing to her head, "I can feel what everyone else feels. It's my gift but I don't like it. It makes my head hurt."

Pixie was about to inquire further when the curly haired woman appeared next to her. Truth be told, Pixie was more intrigued about the strange children in the living room. She wanted to know how they were doing what they were doing. Even by Matrix standards, this was strange to her.

"She'll see you now," was all she said, pointing over to a doorway just off the living room.

Bidding the child a farewell while trying to keep her nerves in check, Pixie crossed through the threshold and entered the other room. She didn't know what to expect- Hawk's face had been impassive and Mouse, who had passed her on the way in, looked sick- from this Oracle person but she knew she couldn't turn back now. Not just because Morpheus had said that she was to speak with the Oracle. No, turning back meant she'd probably hear it from Hawk about how she was too chicken to go through with it. Nervous as she was, Pixie was no chicken. At least, not about this sort of thing.


	51. Unwritten

AN: Happy Belated Halloween! Hope everyone had plenty of spooky fun and got lots of candy. I spent my Halloween doing a presentation in my Neurobiology class. Not exactly a great time but I think the presentation went alright. I'm not comfortable talking in front of the room which is strange because I've been dancing on stage for like twenty years. I guess the difference is that, on stage, I can't see the people in the audience. In front of the classroom, I can see everyone. Anywho, as far as I can see, this is the next to the last chapter in this little misadventure. I hope everyone who's still out there enjoyed the ride! There is most definitely a sequel to this misadventure on the horizon, though. A sequel with more fighting, more Matrix-y action, and, maybe, even a bit more on the Pixie and Wheeler front. Please, keep reading and reviewing! This chapter was, definitely, harder to write than anything else!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"I am unwritten,  
Can't read my mind  
I'm undefined  
I'm just beginning  
The pen's in my hand  
Ending unplanned…" (from "Unwritten" by Natasha Bettingfield)

"Sit down" the only individual in the room stated, speaking but not looking at the medic-in-training, "I'll be with you in just a jiffy."

What Pixie could of the other person in the room was a floral dress- like a house dress that she'd seen older people in the Matrix wearing- standing behind the wide open door of a refrigerator. It was an old style refrigerator, the kind with rounded edges and only one door. Pixie couldn't tell if she was working in the freezer or the lower half of refrigerator.

She sighed and sat down at the table, taking in the rest of the room. Pixie was starting to see pattern in the way the house was decorated. The "vintage" look extended to this room, with brightly colored, wallpapered walls and old style cabinetry and appliances.

On the stove was a double boiler a metallic pot full of boiling water under a clear glass bowl. The bowl was empty at the moment but there were some chocolate looking stains on its inside. On the table was a white, plastic cutting board and a very large cutting knife. Both were covered in shavings of chocolate. A few wrapped bars of cocoa based substance sat on the table, tempting the medic. She hadn't had chocolate in what seemed like ages.

This, at least, explained why both Hawk and Mouse had come out munching on the treat. This woman- The Oracle, Pixie supposed- had given it to them at some point during their meeting.

Part of Pixie could only hope she'd be rewarded with the same sweet treat. Yes, she knew it was fake but chocolate was still chocolate. She could still want some, fake or otherwise.

The woman returned, carrying a tray of frozen chocolate. She was a grandmotherly sort of person, at least in Pixie's mind she was anyway. It was obvious she was older, her dark skinned face creased by many smiles and frowns throughout a long life. She was dressed in a flowery dress, green and orange that strangely matched the rest of the room, and what Pixie could only describe as nurses' shoes.

The older woman began to take the chocolate out of the molds, watching Pixie with a trained eye. The medic-in-training, suddenly, felt very small. She averted her eyes, looking anywhere in the room but at the older woman. There was something in that friendly but not quite gaze that made Pixie distinctly nervous.

It was like she wasn't so much looking at her but looking through her. As if she could see into the very recesses of Pixie's mind. It was not something Pixie was extremely comfortable with to say the very least. She rested her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers as her nervous energy tried to find a way to vent itself.

"They say making chocolate is very relaxing," the old woman commented casting a wary eye at the obviously nervous young woman, "I tend to agree with them."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but who are you?" Pixie asked, watching the older woman turn out the chocolate, focusing on that instead of the fact she, suddenly, felt see through and exposed.

It was shell shaped, slipping out of the clear plastic molds with ease. Not a single shell stuck to the mold nor did any of it crack on the way out. The older woman's hands moved with practiced motions, twisting and turning the clear plastic in order to get the candy out but not crack the chilled mold.

"Morpheus didn't tell you?" she retorted, sounding slightly amused.

Pixie just shook her head, not sure of where this old woman was going with this conversation. Much to the young woman's chagrin, there some vital piece of information missing here. Some name or title not given or something to that effect. Unless, it was and she'd missed it. Pixie fervently hoped it was the former and not the latter.

The old woman gave a short, good natured chuckle before replying, "I'm the Oracle."

Pixie looked at the woman in a whole new light. She'd heard about going to see an oracle from some of the others who had jobs on ships. Torrent had mentioned in passing claiming he didn't want to talk about it in front of her and Eli and Chian had just stated she'd gone. That had been the end of that conversation.

In Pixie's mind, it also seemed to be the only rational way to explain the feeling she'd had. Maybe she older woman- the Oracle- had been divining something about by looking into her head. Something to that effect, anyway.

"So, you're going to tell me my future, kind of like the Oracle at Delphi?" Pixie questioned, curiously.

"That's not what I'm going to do. I'm only here to help you understand the decisions you've already made. Your decisions have already been made. You just have to understand them," the Oracle told the young woman.

Pixie stared, confused, at the older woman. She didn't know what the older woman was talking about. How could she understand a decision she hadn't already made?

If she'd already made all her decisions already, then that made it seem like her future had already been decided. There was no free will involved in anything she did. Pixie figured it that was true, she was nothing more than a puppet, a slave to some ultimate fate she couldn't fight.

That idea wasn't appealing to Pixie at all. She was rather keen on the idea that her decisions were all made the moment she needed to make them. Her future wasn't already decided. She and her free will were shaping it as she went along.

"You're a good girl: loyal, dedicated to a fault, a hard worker, just as hard a fighter. Morpheus is lucky to have you on his ship," the Oracle told Pixie, ignoring the confused look on the girl's face, "and you need to learn to give yourself credit. You're worth far more than you believe you are."

She gave Pixie a gentle smile and added, "There's a certain someone out there who'd be inclined to agree with me. That's why he likes you. He wants to make sure you know you're worth more than you believe."

"Who? Someone on my ship?" Pixie asked, growing even more confused by the moment.

This woman didn't seem to be speaking any kind of prophecy but she was saying, well, things. Things that didn't really make sense to Pixie, no matter how she tried to rationalize them. Maybe they were supposed to make sense but in her confusion everything was just sort of settling in the dark haired young woman's mind and staying there.

This new information, if one could call it that, sort of piled up like so many parcels. It crowded up the corridors of her mind, not allowing any of her streamlined and carefully controlled thoughts slip past.

"No," the Oracle replied with a knowing shake of her head, "the person I'm talking about has liked you for quite sometime but he's just as scared as you. The two of you will come around in time. It's just going to take some coaxing for both of you to realize it."

Pixie's brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle out just who this woman was talking about. At the moment, her mind was drawing a blank. There wasn't anyone she could think of that felt that way about her. All of the people- except for Hawk but that was a whole other case- she could think of were just her friends. Even the ones back in Zion were just her friends.

"Now, on to other things," the Oracle announced, as if she hadn't given Pixie enough to think about, "I know you're a medic and that you're bent on keeping your crew safe and sound which is very honorable of you, dearie. Though you believe your hands were meant to heal, they can be used for other things. You'll come to terms with that, eventually, but, I'll tell you, it'll be hard."

"I don't understand what you're telling me," Pixie whined, in a small voice, "Please, can you tell me what you mean."

She wasn't fond of being confused. It went against everything she stood for as a medic. Everything could be rationalized in scientific terms; there was no need for confusion. If a medic was confused while treating someone, that was not a good thing.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head off, my dear. It'll all make sense to you in time. You'll do alright," the Oracle told Pixie, not helping the situation any.

Pixie wanted an explanation of what she was being told, not an assurance that she'd understand in time. It was frustrating to her that she couldn't just be told. Things would have been a whole lot simpler that way.

She handed a silent Pixie a piece of chocolate with a grandmother's smile. Pixie took the piece of candy, not wanting to be rude.

"Eat that. It'll help you think. Remember the past. Cherish the present. Fight the future," the Oracle told the silent rebel as she ushered her out of the room.

As Morpheus brought his three, now silent, rookies back down to the car. No one spoke. To Pixie, the car ride back to the phone was a lot longer than it should have been, even with the chocolate.

"Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words  
That you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it  
Release your inhibitions  
Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
The rest is still unwritten" (from "Unwritten" by Natasha Bettingfield)


	52. Headed for the Future

AN: "This is the end, you made your choice and now my chance is over…" Not sure if anyone's actually ever heard of the song that lyric's from. It's from this old song called "Far From Over." I danced to it in my acrobatics class a while back when we were doing songs from old movies. Not exactly the most memorable of dances to say the least. The costume, however, was memorable if only for one bad thing. The pants we wore that year were made of, basically, silver Mylar fabric that kept ripping along the seams. After much debate on why the pants kept ripping, we found out that the pants were made out of fabric that had rotted slightly. Not exactly a good thing to say the least! Anywho, this is the last chapter of this part of Pixie's story! Thanks for coming along for the strange and twisty ride! I hope you all had a good time. There's a sequel for this misadventure, just in case anyone's curious. Thank you, everyone who reviewed this little misadventure. You're all the best and I hope you stick around for the sequel!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own _The Matrix_, _The Animatrix_, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"Hey, were headed for the future  
Give us some room  
We're gonna build a new world…" (From "Headed for the Future" by Neil Diamond)

Pixie stared at the ceiling above her bed, sighing in frustration. She pushed some of her hair out of her eyes- her hair tended to get in her face as she slept-and slapped her hands against what passed for her mattress on the _Nebuchadnezzar_. Frustration coursed through every inch of the young girl's body and for a very good reason.

Pixie couldn't sleep. Actually, "couldn't sleep" was putting it lightly. There were many nights when Pixie, simply, couldn't fall asleep. It seemed to take her quite some time to fall asleep but when she, finally, did, she tended to stay asleep.

Tonight was different, though, and different in a bad way. Her mind was a busy place, normally, since Pixie considered thinking one of her hobbies but tonight she just couldn't seem to get her mind to turn off that night. No matter what she did- She even tried the Matrix stand by of counting sheep- Pixie couldn't force herself to sleep.

The reason the medic-in-training couldn't sleep was quite simple and that made it all the more annoying. The words of the Oracle still ran though Pixie's head. Every time she turned over, desperate for five minutes of rest, her mind would start to replay something the old woman had said.

Pixie figured that, maybe, if she tried to rationalize what the Oracle had told her she'd get some rest. Nothing the older woman told her, though, made any sense to her. She just couldn't wrap her head around the comments no matter how hard she tried. They just didn't make any good sense to Pixie, causing her more trouble and keeping her awake.

She threw her thin gray blanket off and pulled her boots back on. Sleep was the last thing on her mind and lying in bed rolling around didn't seem all that productive. There had to be something Pixie could do to pass the time until she was exhausted enough to fall asleep.

Pixie slipped out of her room, shutting the door behind her as quietly as humanly possible. She set her booted feet to walking the grated hallways of the ship she called home, trying not to make anything that remotely resembled a loud noise. Just because she couldn't sleep, it didn't mean the rest of the crew had to be awake too. Walking them up because she couldn't sleep seemed rude and, besides, Pixie figured with her luck she'd probably wind up waking Hawk up.

Hawk had pestered her from the moment they got back onto the ship, wanting to know what the Oracle had told her. He, of course, was boasting about how the Oracle had told him he was going to be a great and powerful warrior. Pixie wasn't entirely sure Hawk was being truthful but she wasn't going to say anything to him. Her head was too full of her own messages from the Oracle.

Besides, she didn't want to get into a verbal altercation with Hawk over truths and lies. Hawk never liked having his "greatness" questioned nor did he like anyone telling him he was being dishonest….even when he, actually, was lying.

Heading for the mess hall to get some water like a little kid who couldn't sleep, Pixie heard voices. It appeared that she wasn't the only one awake at this late hour. For a moment, Pixie toyed with the idea of going back to her room and her staring at the ceiling above her.

Curiosity got the better of her, though, and she peered into the room. Pixie tried her hardest not to cast any shadow or be seen in anyway. She knew what was said in the Matrix about the curious cat. She didn't want to test if that theory came into play in the Real World.

Sitting at the table in the room, a large jug and a deck of homemade playing cards between them, were Trinity and Switch. Both looked slightly off kilter, as if they'd been drinking. Pixie knew alcohol existed in the Real World but she figured that it wasn't allowed on ships.

The game stopped for a moment and the two older females leaned over the table, seemingly whispering to each other. One of them jerked their head towards the door causing Pixie's stomach to hit the ground with an almost audible "thud." Despite her desperate attempt at stealth, she'd still been found out.

As she tried to creep away, the medic-in-training heard, "Pixie, you don't have to stand out there. You can come in, we're not going to hurt you."

A moment later- After a mental debate on whether or not she should, actually go into the room- Pixie slipped into the room with her head down. She wasn't feeling particularly proud of herself for getting caught.

"What's wrong, Pix? You look like you've seen a ghost," Switch asked, gesturing for the young girl to join them at the table.

"She went to see the Oracle," Trinity replied for Pixie.

"She can do that to you. Here, drink some of this. It'll make you feel better," the white haired rebel commentated, pouring Pixie a small cup from the contents of the jug.

Pixie, sitting down, took the cup and stared at its contents. It appeared to be some kind of clear liquid, water but a bit more viscous. It had a slight smell, metal combined with something Pixie couldn't quite place. The metallic tang was common to everything on the ship, from the water they drank to the machinery they worked on. The other smell, however, was puzzling. It was nearly like yeast mixed with sugar---a slightly cloying sweet smell.

With an absent minded shrug, she drank a little of the viscous substance. As soon as she swallowed, she began to cough roughly. Whatever the liquid was burned like no body's business on the way down, gagging the medic-in-training.

"What is that?" she asked her voice raspy from coughing.

Pixie wasn't exactly sure what she'd just ingested but it had hurt to drink. She was still coughing in a pathetic sort of way as her throat tried to sort itself out and her face had turned a very pale shade of pink.

"Just a little something Dozer cooks up. It'll strip an engine just as easily as it strips your throat," Switch replied, around a laugh.

"You get use to it. Feel like discussing the Oracle?" Trinity commented.

It was par for the course for someone, fresh off of seeing the Oracle, to either want to talk about what the woman had revealed or keep it to themselves. It all depended on the person in question. Hawk had been heard bragging about how he had been told what a great and powerful warrior he was to become while Mouse had retreated to his room and thrown himself headlong into his work. Distraction was always the best balm for any sort of news that one didn't understand. You couldn't think about strange messages if your mind was busy thinking about other things.

Pixie, for her part, had just shrugged her way through any questioned posed to her. She wasn't ready to share what she had learned just yet. It was either that or it was just Pixie being Pixie. She was, generally, quiet and kept to herself about things. It wouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone if Pixie decided not to tell anyone.

Much to the surprise of the two females in the room, it seemed like she was quite ready to talk now. Pixie figured that, despite the fact it made her slightly uncomfortable to talk about what the Oracle had told her, she had to get it off of her chest somehow. If she didn't, the young woman figured she wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon.

"She got me confused, I know that much is true. She talks in riddles or something because, half the time, I didn't even know what she was referring to," Pixie groaned.

"Yeah, she's known to do things like that," Trinity, sourly, commented.

"She tell you anything interesting?" Switch, casually, asked.

Pixie bit her lip, thinking about whether or not she wanted to talk about what she had learned. The two older women seemed to be trustworthy and they had, obviously, seen the Oracle before her. What the Oracle had told them wasn't the topic of conversation and Pixie decided that asking them would be prying.

Still, Switch and Trinity seemed to know what the Oracle was all about. If that was the case, Pixie figured, they could help decipher the cryptic messages she had been given. That and Pixie felt the incredible need to tell someone what she'd been told.

"Just that I was a medic and I wanted to keep everyone on the ship safe. She said that I have hands for healing but they could be used for other things which doesn't make any sense to me. Before all that, though, she told me there's someone out there who likes me and wants to help me see that I'm worth more than I think I am. When I asked who it was, she wouldn't tell me," she blurted, the words coming out in a great big rush, tripping and slipping over each other as they tried to get out.

She drank a little more, wincing as the liquid slid down her throat. Pixie knew that she, probably, shouldn't have had anything to drink but she felt she needed something. After all, she'd said quite a bit.

"You know what you need…" Switch broached, tailing off as she set up for some sort of offer.

"What?" Pixie replied, with a shrug.

At this point, she was willing to try just about anything to get rest for her busy mind. Well, not anything. She had her limits of course, things she was and wasn't willing to do.

"To drink some more, to play cards with us, and to forget what that old bat said," the white haired rebel answered, beginning to deal the cards that had lay, forgotten for the moment, on the table.

"Can't hurt," Pixie, mentally, mused, "well, that stuff in the cup can but not sitting here. Maybe it'll make me tired or something."

Some time had passed since the young rebel had wandered into the mess hall. She, too, wore the same slightly off kilter look as the two adults. Pixie had never been intoxicated before, considering the fact she had been underage when she had been freed, but she assumed she was either well on her way or already there.

"How come you two are up so late?" Pixie asked, peering over the top of her cards, "I mean, I have my excuse so what's yours?"

"Simple," a somewhat tipsy Switch replied, "girl talk. We sit, we complain about all the little boys on the ship, and remember that we're still girls."

Pixie gave a loud giggle, imagining the usually curt older officers relaxing and gossiping. The image didn't seem to fit quite well, all things considered. The two females she sat with were scary serious at times. They were definitely people that Pixie knew she wasn't supposed to cross.

The story seemed a bit different now but Pixie figured, the next day, things would go back to normal. She'd go back to making sure to toe the line lest she get stuck with one of the many "undesirable" jobs on the ship.

"Now, she's lying to you," Trinity commented in an offhanded sort of way, "we don't complain about all the little boys on the ship. Don't call Apoc a little boy in front of you know who over here, she gets annoyed."

She gestured with her cards to the other person sitting at the table. That made Pixie giggle even more. This whole situation, to her, was amusing in a strange, out of character sort of way.

"Well, I have no problems with him. The only guy---well, guys---I have an issue with are Hawk and Cypher," Pixie brought up, "Hawk's a long standing problem with me though, stemming from when he and I were in Zion together."

Pixie didn't know how much everyone she worked with knew about her time in Zion. Other than the necessary where her grades and medical history were concerned, of course. She wasn't about to bring up the issue she had with Hawk there. It would implicate Wheeler and she really didn't want to bring him up. Not in this sort of conversation and not with the way things were going.

"We all have problems with Cypher. He's one slimy character. He's only on a ship to move up in the ranks. He doesn't care about what Morpheus and all of this stands for," Trinity declared, throwing down a card.

"Kind of like Hawk," Pixie concurred, "Though, I'd trust Cypher less. Hawk's just kind of a harmless person who has a very wrong idea of himself."

"Yeah, well, he and Hawk are two of a kind. Both slimy and untrustworthy. I say we throw them off the ship and bring in some half descent people," Switch suggested.

Then she added, "You know what, I can't even see straight. I think we should call it a night."

The other two females agreed, nodding slightly or mumbling an answer. The medic-in-training had to admit that she was a little more on the tired side. That and she was feeling a bit off kilter now. At least she wasn't thinking about the Oracle anymore. That had to be a plus.

Pixie went to get up from the table. She stumbled a bit as she headed for the door, tripping over her own booted feet.

"Watch it now. I think that stuff was just a little too strong for you. Come on, I'll walk you back to your room before you wind up hurting yourself trying to get back," Trinity said to Pixie.

Though the young rebel had drunk very little of the viscous liquid, only about a cup and a half, she was already feeling the after effects. Unlike her older counterparts, she had little or no tolerance for such beverages. It was something new her system was trying to deal with.

Stumbling, bumbling, and bunking her way back, Trinity steered Pixie towards her room. The older rebel was well aware that Pixie was going to have a very rough morning. She'd have to let Morpheus know about what happened so he didn't decide to punish the medic-in-training.

"Get some sleep," she ordered, watching Pixie struggle to get her boots off.

"You got it," came Pixie mumbled reply, along.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, Pixie fell into a deep sleep. Her last, lucid, thought was that she was in control of her own future. No Oracle was going to tell her what she was or was not going to do.

She was the author of her own story and that story was just starting.


End file.
